The popular tennis player Sania Mirza's life has been surrounded with a number of controversies ever since she came into limelight. Be it her wedding to the Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik or the 'skirts' she wore during the tournaments, everything that she stepped on, turned into a major highlight.

Some of the controversies surrounding Sania:

Too 'short' to believe

Sania had drawn criticism from some Muslim religious groups during her career for short tennis clothes that she wore during matches. A Muslim scholar had even issued a ruling, saying that women's tennis attire is not suited to Islam. Later, Jamiat-ulema-e-Hind clarified that they do not stop anyone from playing.

'Disrespect' to tri-colour

According to a case filed on Sania in January 2008, she had disrespected the national Tricolour by putting her feet towards the flag during a function. The case was filed in the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court under Section 2 of the Prevention of Insult to the National Honour Act of 1971 by a local resident.

'Face off' on ration card

This was a rather hilarious controversy. Sania's photograph appeared on the white ration card, which makes a family eligible to get rice at a highly-subsidised price of Rs 2-a-kg and social security benefits health insurance and a permanent housing. This card was issued to Laxmi of Vizianagaram district.

The threat calls

In July 2008, 28 years old Mohammed Ashraf, a civil engineering student, was arrested for allegedly making threatening calls to Sania and creating nuisance at her residence demanding that she cancels her engagement to Sohrab Mirza. The youth, who claimed to be in love with her, was allegedly sending messages and making threatening calls to her mobile phone asking her to cancel her engagement. Ashraf went to Sania`s house at Banjara Hills and allegedly entered an argument with her father asking him to cancel her engagement as that he was in love with her.

Engagement called off

Sania's engagement with Mohammed Sohrab Mirza was called off citing incompatibility. Sania refused to give the exact reasons, just confirming the news. "We were friends for half a decade, but found ourselves incompatible during our engagement period. I wish Sohrab the best in life," she said.

Sania and AITA

Sania accused the All India Tennis Association (AITA) of using her as `bait` to keep Leander Paes happy; as she originally wanted to play with Mahesh Bhupathi in the mixed doubles of 2012 Olympics. This was after both Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna refused to play alongside Leander Paes in the men`s doubles event at the 2012 Olympics. Paes had demanded to play with Sania in the mixed doubles.

Pakistan's 'Daughter-in-law'

Last but not the least, Telangana BJP leader K Laxman, on 23 July 2013, called Sania "daughter-in-law" of Pakistan as she is married to Pakistan's cricketer Shoaib Malik. Laxman questioned her credentials to be the brand ambassador of the newly carved out state - Telangana.