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A young Indian man turned up at the home of tennis star Sania Mirza and threatened to kill himself if the tennis player did not marry him. Mohammad Ashraf told Imran Mirza, Sania’s father, that the tennis star could not marry anyone else as she “was born for me”. He also demanded that her engagement with family friend Sohrab Mirza, scheduled for Friday, be cancelled. An alarmed Imran Mirza called the police who have taken him into custody. He has been produced in court and remanded for a fortnight. Mirza, 22, is one of the top ranking players. She ranks 85 in the world. ‘Threatening’ In his complaint to the police, Mr Mirza says Mr Ashraf claims to be in love with the tennis star ever since he saw her playing a match in Bangalore two years ago. Mr Mirza has also complained that the youth was sending text messages and making threatening calls to his daughter for some time. Mr Ashraf arrived at Ms Mirza’s home in Hyderabad city’s upmarket home in Banjara Hills area on Tuesday evening accompanied by his friend Devadeesh Mohanty. “How can you engage Sania to another person when she was born for me?” Mr Ashraf is reported to have asked the tennis player’s father. “He was threatening to commit suicide if Sania did not marry him,” Mr Mirza told the police. The two men have been arrested and have been charged with trespass and creating a nuisance. Mr Ashraf has been identified as a civil engineer from Bangalore. Police say they have contacted Bangalore police to find out whether Mr Ashraf is mentally sound.

A second-round loss at the Wimbledon championships cost Sania Mirza seven places in the WTA singles ranking as the Indian slipped to 85 but maintained her 37th position in the doubles list. A failed bid at Wimbledon also affected Somdev Devvarman’s and Prakash Amrittraj’s rankings as the former lost three places to be 132 and latter went down by five spots to be at 159. Somdev had lost his first qualifying round and Prakash faltered in the third and final round. Mahesh Bhupathi gained a place to be at eighth in the men’s doubles ranking courtesy a semifinal appearance at the All England Club and Leander Paes maintained his sixth position despite making a shock first round exit.