Hyderabad 2005. An 18-year-old Sania Mirza defeated Ukraine’s Alona Bondarenko and earned her first WTA crown. A star was thus born.
But she couldn’t have then predicted the script that would unfold. Sania would go on to become one of Indian sport’s biggest success stories, and a role model for young girls.
With six grand slam titles (three doubles and three mixed doubles) under her belt, and 14 medals for India in multi-sport events, the former world No.1 in doubles has finally decided to call it a day at the end of the 2022 season.
Her announcement, made after her first round exit in the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, might have been unexpected, but for Sania the time has come.
“I think I have achieved almost everything I could have ever dreamed about when I started out on this amazing game of tennis,” Sania, 35, told The Telegraph from Dubai.
Setting realistic goals for her farewell year, she added: “First things first, I would like to finish this year without having to face any major injury. It would be amazing, of course, if I could win a tournament or two in my final year on the circuit.”
The two significant trophies that are missing in her cabinet are the French Open doubles and the Wimbledon mixed doubles.
“There is no sportsman in the world who goes through his career and feels that he has had a flawless run in his chosen sport. That is the beauty of sport and makes it different from a Bollywood movie where you could incorporate a flawless story of achievements at will.
“There has never been a tournament that I have played in my life where I haven’t tried my utmost to win and it will be the same until the last match of my career,” she said.
Would she like to play with an Indian partner in her last season? “It is virtually impossible to enter top tournaments with an Indian partner as their rankings are a problem,” she said.
Asked why the current crop of Indian players are not doing well in the international arena, Sania said: “Tennis is a truly global sport played in more than 200 countries. The next champion can emerge out of any of those countries. For players to perform at the highest level on a regular basis we need a world class system and that is lacking in our country.
“Until a proper system evolves, world class players from India will only emerge sporadically, mainly thanks to their raw talent and their family’s support system. This has been the case with Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna and myself.”
Sania was candid on India’s tennis future. “On the men’s side, there’s Ramkumar Ramanathan, Sumit Nagal and Yuki Bhambri and on the women’s side you have Karman Kaur Thandi and Ankita Raina. But they need to make the next level soon as time is running out.”
Apart from tennis, Sania’s world now revolves around a very important three-year-old, her son Izhaan Mirza Malik.
“The most difficult part of my profession right now has been travelling with Izhaan and keeping him safe from the pandemic. It is one of the reasons why I feel I need to stop playing,” she said.
Will there be any one moment in her career that she will cherish the most? “It’s difficult to pick out just one highpoint of my career. But winning medals for my country, achieving a ranking of No. 1 in the world and winning the Wimbledon women’s doubles in 2015 rank high.
“Also defeating grand slam champions like Martina Hingis (twice), Svetlana Kuznetsova, Marion Bartoli (twice) and Victoria Azarenka in singles matches on the tour would rank high among my memorable moments.”
How will Sania remain connected to the sport after 2022? “Tennis has been my life and I will continue to be connected with it in some capacity or the other. We are already running the Sania Mirza Tennis Academy in Hyderabad and I am planning to start a string of academies in Dubai soon,” she said.
