Sania Mirza Announces Retirement From Professional Tennis

Legendary Indian tennis star Sania Mirza has announced her retirement from professional tennis. She said 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 feature in her final major at the Australian Open beginning on January 16.

Mirza told the WTA Tour website that she had decided to call it quits after the WTA Finals after tearing her tendon 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 added that she prefers to act independently and has been preparing so that she won’t be forced out of action.

Mirza insisted that her priorities have changed and that she no longer has the emotional stamina to push herself.

“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.

When Mirza won the Hyderabad event in 2005, she made history by being the first Indian woman to claim a WTA singles title. By 2007, she had broken into the top 30 and was ranked 27th in the world, which was her career-high.

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.