- Sania Mirza India’s former doubles world number one will retire in 2022.
- Mirza is regarded as her country’s greatest women’s tennis player.
- She won six Grand Slam doubles titles and will compete in her final major this month at the Australian Open.
After her 2022 retirement plans were postponed owing to injury, Sania Mirza, formerly the top-ranked doubles player in the world for India, said that she would end her career after next month’s Dubai Tennis Championships.
Mirza, who is recognized as the best female tennis player in her nation, has won six Grand Slam doubles championships. This month, she will compete in her final major at the Australian Open, where she won the women’s doubles title in 2016.
“I was going to stop right after the WTA Finals because we were going to make the WTA Finals, but I tore my tendon in my elbow right before US Open, so I had to pull out of everything, “In an interview that was published on Friday, Mirza stated for the WTA Tour website.
Mirza had intended to retire at the conclusion of the 2022 season due to a longstanding calf issue, but an elbow injury in August prevented her from competing in the US Open.
“Honestly, the person that I am, I like to do things on my own terms. So I don’t want to be forced out by injury. So I’ve been training,” she added.
When Mirza won the Hyderabad event in 2005, she made history by being the first Indian to take home a WTA singles trophy. By 2007, she had broken into the top 30 and was ranked 27th in the world, which was a career high.
After suffering from a persistent wrist injury that threatened her career, Mirza teamed up with the legendary Swiss player Martina Hingis in doubles. The team that dubbed themselves “Santina” won 14 championships, including Wimbledon and the US and Australian Opens.
The Australian Open begins on January 16, and Mirza will participate there alongside Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan before saying goodbye to tennis in the United Arab Emirates, where she has lived for more than ten years with her husband, former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik.
“I’m 36, and honestly, my body is beaten; that is the main reason for it,” Mirza said in a recent interview. “I really don’t have the capacity in my mind to emotionally push that much anymore.
“I turned pro in 2003. Priorities change, and now my priority is not to push my body to the limit every single day.”
In January 2021, Sania said, “there’s a few [sic] reasons for it. It’s not as simple as ‘okay I’m not going to play’. I do feel my recovery is taking longer, I’m putting my 3-year-old son at risk by travelling so much with him, that’s something I have to take into account. I think my body is wearing down,” the 35-year-old said.
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