Is Sania Mirza Retiring from Tennis?

Sania Mirza has revealed that she plans to retire from tennis.

On January 6, 2023, the former doubles world number one announced that she will be walking away from the sport after the WTA 1,000 event in Dubai, which gets underway in February 2023.

Sania Mirza announced retirement plans in 2022, however, due to an injury, her plans to leave the sport were delayed.

Speaking on her upcoming retirement, Sania told the media:

“I’m 36, and honestly my body is beaten, that is the main reason for it.

“I 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.”

In a recent interview, Sania said:

“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 the US Open, so I had to pull everything out of everything.

“Honestly, the person that I am, I like to do things on my terms. So I don’t want to be forced out by injury. So I’ve been training.”

Sania Mirza became the first Indian to win a Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) singles title when she won her hometown Hyderabad event in 2005.

She broke into the top 30 female tennis players by 2007 and reached her career-high ranking of world number 27.

After being plagued by a recurring, career-threatening wrist injury, She forged a doubles partnership with Swiss great Martina Hingis.

The self-styled “Santina” pairing won 14 titles, including Wimbledon, the US Open and Australian Open.

Sania Mirza will compete alongside Kazakhstan’s Anna Danilina at the Australian Open, which begins on January 16, 2023.

After she walks away from the sport, Sania plans to focus on her academies in Dubai, where she has resided for more than a decade, in addition to the one she started in Hyderabad.

She said: “For me, it’s important to share my experience in the places that I live in, that’s why I have one in Hyderabad and one in Dubai.”

Mirza, regarded as her country’s greatest women’s tennis player, has won a total of six Grand Slam doubles titles.

Her appearance at the 2023 Australian Open will be her last Grand Slam event.