Sania Mirza is in trouble again. Why does this keep happening to her?

The Bangalore Open will start on March 3 but Sania Mirza won’t be there and that’s a big deal because Sania is a huge star in India. Why isn’t she going? As she puts it:

Every time I play in India there is a problem. Considering all that, I thought it would be better not to play in Bangalore. In fact, I feel it would be better if I didn’t play in the country for some time.

What problems? Well, first there was tennis wear. Muslims complained about her indecent short skirts and sleeveless tops and called them “un-Islamic.” Sania is Muslim by the way.

Then there was safe sex. In 2005 she made comments at a leadership summit in Delhi about safe sex that were interpreted as endorsing pre-marital sex.

Next, trespassing. Late last year she shot a commercial on the premises of a 17th century mosque in her home town of Hyderabad. She faced charges of trespassing and had to apologize for the incident.

And now, flag desecration. While Sania was playing Hopman Cup in January, she rested her bare feet on a table that was several feet from an Indian flag. A private citizen filed a case against her under the Prevention of Insult to the National Honor Act. She had to appear in a Bhopal court to answer to the charges.

When I read about these troubles, first I shook my head and muttered something about religious intolerance. Next, I wondered if the male tennis players in India get as much grief as Sania does. Do they get taken to court all the time? Then I thought, it’s not so simple, the male players probably aren’t Muslim.

Luckily, our reader Sakhi came to my rescue. I mentioned I was going to write about Sania and she pointed me to an article in the Hindustan Times titled Disadvantage Sania. Sakhi is, I believe, a professor of Women’s Studies and of Indian heritage so she knows what she’s talking about.

I, on the other hand, took one class in social theory at The New School and spent a total of three weeks in India so I don’t know what I’m talking about. I’m very happy for any help I can get.

Interestingly, the author of the article, Barkha Dutt, doesn’t mention the word Muslim. She does refer to “fundamentalist fatwas” but she thinks that India has a love-hate relationship with Sania because she’s “the only female sports icon India has ever known.”

Dutt is an icon herself. She was the first Indian woman journalist to broadcast live from the front line of an armed conflict and she is the director of India’s premiere satellite television network. Her mother was also a pioneer. She sent news dispatches from the front during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.

Clearly Dutt knows what she’s talking about too and she blames the media for some of Sania’s troubles. If you’re an icon, you’ll be covered 24/7. That’s just how it is. But again, it’s not so simple. Sania signed endorsement deals that plaster her face all over India. I remember driving through Kerala on the southwest coast of India and seeing Sania’s face on telephone company ads in the tiniest villages.

She is also one hot young woman. She definitely qualifies as a tennis babe. I like that, don’t get me wrong, but being sexy is a choice and if you make that choice in India, a modest country, be prepared for being an icon and everything that comes with it.

When Sakhi directed me to this article, she also brought up the issue of class. Sania was raised in an upper middle class family. I’m pretty sure she didn’t depend on support from the Indian tennis association to develop her game so she doesn’t have to worry about offending Indian tennis officials. She also a number of members that live in the U.S. so living elsewhere is an option. It’s a lot easier to be brash and outspoken when you have options.

Dutt does mention a brash male athlete who is often at the center of controversy: cricket player Sourav Ganguly. He had a long public feud with the coach of India’s national team and was stripped of his captaincy and kicked off the team at one point. He also had the nerve to tear off his shirt in a victory celebration. I looked it up: he grew up in an affluent family too.

Here’s the question: Should Sania make India mad and stop playing tournaments in India?

Dutt thinks Sania should stick around and finish what she started and you can understand that. Dutt comes from a family of pioneers. But I disagree.

Sania’s job is to play tennis. She’s a very emotional player and she’s only 22 years old. I was at the WTA event in Los Angeles last year when the chair umpire made a bad overrule on a critical point in a match that Sania lost. Sania was furious. Normally players have a time limit for appearing at post match interviews but the WTA media person was in no hurry to drag Sania out of the locker room after that match.

Sania should do whatever puts her in the best emotional state to play tennis. She should work her way up the rankings, win a few big tournaments, make her way into the top ten, and then return triumphant to the Bangalore Open.