Sania Mirza on Wednesday said she was tired after playing a number of matches in the last 10 days but would not give that as an excuse to missed out on an individual gold medal in the Asian Games tennis event in Doha.
"I am a bit tired. I have been playing a lot of tennis in the last ten days or so, but I don't want to make that an excuse. She [Zheng] played very well and won," Sania said after losing to China's Jie Zheng in the final.
The 66th-ranked Indian admitted that she made a bit to many unforced errors which put paid to her hopes.
"I thought I served pretty well at the beginning, but then started making some silly errors. I am a bit disappointed with how it went but it was a good match," she said.
The Hyderabad girl, seeded fourth in the tournament, also said that 33rd-ranked Zheng is a great athlete and that made a big difference in the match.
"Zheng is a great athlete. I was a bit unlucky and I had many chances, and I think that was the difference. While I did not capitalise on my chances, she did. That is tennis and that is the way things go," she said.
The 20-year-old Sania also gave a thumbs up to the crowd which flocked the Khalifa stadium.
"There are so many people that came out here to support me. That's why I am still smiling," she said.
The second seeded Zheng said the noisy crowd at the Centre Court distracted her a lot but she started to find her bearing in the later stages.
"All the voices in the crowd affected me, because I couldn't calm myself down, so for the first and second sets I played quite conservatively".
"From the third set, I started playing more aggressively and tried to transfer the pressure from me to Sania. In general, I think my performance for the entire Asian Games was good and, although I have been under pressure, I think I have done quite well," Zheng added.
