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Sania Mirza confirms retirement plans, set to draw curtain on career after WTA 1000 event in Dubai
Legendary Indian tennis player Sania Mirza has confirmed that she will draw the curtains of her career after the WTA 1000 event in Dubai next month. The 36-year-old has won six Grand Slam doubles titles and will compete in her final major at the Australian Open starting January 16.
Speaking with WTA Tour’s website, Mirza said she was going to stop right after the WTA Finals after tearing her tenson before the US Open.
“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,” said Mirza.
She said that she likes to do things on her own terms and has been training so that she isn’t forced out of action.
“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,” Mirza added.
The Indian superstar said she doesn’t have the emotional capacity to push herself anymore, insisting that her priorities have changed now.
“I’m 36, and honestly my body is beat, that is the main reason for it. 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,” said Mirza.
Mirza became the first Indian to win a WTA singles title, when she won her hometown Hyderabad event in 2005. She broke into the top 30 by 2007 and reached her career-high ranking of world number 27.
Mirza will compete alongside Kazakhstan’s Anna Danilina at the Australian Open, which begins on January 16. She will then bring the curtain down on her glittering career in Dubai, where she has been living with her husband and former Pakistan batter Shoaib Malik.