Sania Mirza has decided to end her illustrious career at next month’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship.

The former doubles world No.1 has made this announcement to the WTA. Sania had initially intended to call it a day at the end of last season, but an elbow injury had ruled her out of the US Open and forced her to stop playing in 2022 as early as in August.

The 36-year-old Indian, married to Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik, has been living in Dubai for more than a decade, and will look to bid adieu to her sport at her home base.

“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,” Sania toldwtatennis.com.

“And 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.”

Sania, a six-time major champion – three in doubles and three in mixed doubles –has signed up to compete in this month’s Australian Open alongside Kazakhstan’s AnnaDanilina.

She has been suffering from a lingering calf problem but is hoping that the injury won’t hamper her farewell plans.

“The plan is to try and retire in Dubai during the DubaiDuty Free Tennis Championships,” she said.

The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, a WTA1000 event, begins on February 19.

“I really don’t have the capacity in my mind to emotionally push that much anymore,” Sania had said in a recent interview. “Priorities change, and now my priority is not to push my body to the limit every single day.”

Sania will partner AnnaDanilina of Kazakhstan in women’s doubles at the upcoming Australian Open, which is expected to be her last Grand Slam. The Indian tennis player won the Australian Open doubles title with Martina Hingis in 2016.