Sania Mirza, who is set to retire after next month's Dubai Masters, reflected on her long and illustrious journey in the sport in an emotional Instagram post prior to the 2023 Australian Open, the final Grand Slam of her career.
She expressed her gratitude for the support she has received throughout her career, and her excitement for the upcoming tournament. Mirza's retirement marks the end of an era for tennis, as she has been a trailblazer for the sport in India.
The 36-year-old wrote, “Thirty (yes, 30!) years ago a 6 year old girl from Nasr School in Hyderabad, walked on to a tennis court at Nizam Club with her young mom and fought the coach to let her learn how to play tennis as he thought that she was too little :). The fight for our dreams began at 6!”
She added, “My Grand Slam journey started with the Australian Open back in 2005. So, it goes without saying that this would be the most perfect Grand Slam to end my career with.
“As I get ready to play my last Australian Open 18 years after I played my first, and then the Dubai Open in Feb, have so many emotions flashing through me with pride and gratitude, perhaps, being the foremost. I take pride in everything have been able to achieve over the last 20 years of my professional career and I am so grateful for the memories that I have been able to create. The greatest memory that I will carry with me for a life time is that of the pride and happiness that I saw on the faces of my fellow countrymen and supporters each time I achieved victory and reached milestones in my long career.”
In an exclusive interview with the WTA website earlier this month, former world No. 1 doubles player Sania Mirza declared that the WTA 1000 event in Dubai in February would be her final competition.
“Honestly, the person that I am, I like to do things on my terms. So, I don’t want to be forced out by injury. So, I have been training,” she told wtatennis.com.
Sania Mirza achieved an impressive feat by winning six Grand Slam titles in both women's and mixed doubles. Initially, she had planned to retire at the end of 2022, but an elbow injury sustained during the US Open forced her to end her season prematurely in August.
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