In this 2023 we will see the last blows of a player who has marked an era as a doubles player: Sania Mirza. After turning 36 a couple of months ago, the player from Mumbai has finally found the path she was looking for to hang her racket on the court. An elbow injury prevented him from saying goodbye to her previous course in New York, where she had everything agreed, so she has had no choice but to get back in shape to extend her incredible career for a few months. In a recent interview collected by WTAMirza explains where that last party will be.
“The plan is to retire in Dubai. I am 36 years old and, honestly, my body is exhausted, that is the main reason”, confesses the former No. 1 in the world in doubles. “Really, I no longer have the capacity in my mind to push myself so emotionally. I became a professional in the 2003 season, priorities have changed, right now my priority is not to push my body to the limit every day, ”acknowledges the woman who became a mother four years ago, changing her life forever.
“I was going to stop right after the WTA Finals in Fort Worth last year, because we were going to qualify for that tournament, but I just ruptured my elbow tendon a few days before the start of the US Open, so I had to withdraw for full of what was left of the season ”, he remembers with pain about those dates when all his plans were broken after that setback.
Now the horizon has changed. Sania will play the next Australian Open with the Kazakh Anna Danilina, before heading to Abu Dhabi, where she has lived for a decade, to say goodbye to the competition. “Honestly, being the type of person I am, I like to do things on my own terms, so I didn’t want to take a forced goodbye to tennis due to injury. That is why I have continued training, to come back and retire in my own way ”, assesses the six Grand Slam champion.
IN FRONT OF AN ACADEMY
Her days as a player seem numbered, but don’t worry about Mirza, she won’t stay quiet at home. It has been several years since she invested in her own Academy, which already has different locations around the world, although her main mission is to find local talent in her country of residence.
“We are trying to spread and bring tennis to the homes of all people, that is the plan. Why don’t we have more players leaving the United Arab Emirates? If we have money, we have infrastructure and we have everything, why don’t we have players? There is a problem somewhere, so we have to solve it, whatever it is, to find a solution”, concludes a woman who promises to continue working hard from off the court so that tennis continues to be a global sport and that it reaches all corners of the planet.
