A subcontinent legend, Sania Mirza has announced her retirement from Tennis after playing the sport internationally for 20 years. A tennis legend in this part of the world, the news wasn’t a surprise as the Indian tennis star had been struggling with her form in tournaments for almost years now.
Sania is 36 years old and this seems to be the typical age when Tennis stars usually retire from the sport. She has decided to say goodbye to tennis after performing in the Dubai Tennis Championship. The event will be held next month and will be the last one she participates in ever.
Sania Mirza Retires from Tennis
The superstar has been dealing with a calf injury and decided to hang her boots in the upcoming event. She says her body is no longer young, her prime playing age has passed and she will not be pushing her body anymore by playing more.
Sania Mirza said about her decision, “I really don’t have the capacity in my mind to emotionally push that much anymore.” Before she appears in the Dubai Tennis Championship, she will first appear in Australian Open in the Women’s Doubles event alongside Anna Danilina, the Russian-born Kazakh tennis player.
This will be her last Grand Slam event, so she has high hopes of finishing it at the top to add one more great performance to her resume before she hangs her boots next month. Sania Mirza had actually thought of retiring by the end of the 2022 season but she decided to hold it because of an elbow injury.
She has been a source of encouragement for women in the subcontinent. Over the 2 decades-long careers, she has won Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon once each in the Grand Slam Mixed Doubles category and has won Australian Open, US Open, and Wimbledon once each in the Grand Slam Women’s Doubles categories.
While she hasn’t been able to capture any Singles Grand Slam in her career, she has remained captures a total of 43 titles in her career. She was ranked the No. 1 seed ranking in Women’s tennis in April of 2015 and she is currently the number 24 player in the world.
Future Plans
Sania Mirza plans on focusing on her education and academics in the UAE. She resides there after getting married to Shoaib Malik, who is the former Pakistani Cricket Superstar. The couple married in 2010 when the two of them were at the height of their career. The couple has a son named Izhaan Mirza Malik who was born in 2018.