New Delhi: India’s reigning tennis star Sania Mirza disclosed that she will be hanging up her boots in the next tournament. The former doubles champion will bid goodbye to the sport in February at the WTA 1000 event, which will be held in Dubai.
Sania Mirza revealed the news of her retirement in a Women’s Tennis Association Interview.
Mirza cited health reasons for her taking retirement. She has been dealing with a calf injury. Earlier, Sania expressed her wish to retire at the end of 2022 but she missed US Open due to an elbow injury, delaying her retirement.
The 36-year-old tennis champ will make her last Grand Slam appearance in Australia Open in January. She will play alongside Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan.
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Sania stated that her priorities have changed in her journey as a sportswoman since she reached the pro level in the year 2003. She further explained that now her priority isn’t to push her body to its limits every single day.
Mirza is hailed as India’s greatest tennis player to this day with six Grand Slam doubles in her credit.
She had won the women’s doubles crown at the Australia Open back in 2016.
Mirza will turn to academics after retirement in her residence city Dubai. Sania Mirza and her husband Shoaib Malik have been living in Dubai for more than a decade.
Sania Mirza was in the top 30 tennis players (women) worldwide by 2007. The tennis champ reached her highest world ranking of 27 the same year.
She also became the first Indian to bag a WTA title.
