Hyderabad-born India’s premier women’s tennis star Sania Mirza announced that she will be quitting the sport. Mirza has announced that 2022 will be her final season on the WTA tour after her first-round loss in women’s doubles at the Australian Open on Wednesday.
Mirza, 35, seeded 12th with Nadiia Kichenok, lost to KajaJuvan and Tamara Zidansek 4-6, 6-7 (5).
“I’ve decided that this will be my last season. I’m taking it week by week. Not sure if I can last the season, but I want to,” Sania, India’s most successful female tennis player, was quoted as saying.
Mirza had returned to tennis after giving birth to her son in March 2019 but her progress was later thwarted by the coronavirus pandemic.
“There’s a bunch of reasons for it. It’s not as simple as ‘okay I’m not going to play’. I do feel my recovery is taking longer, I do feel, considering my son is three years old, I’m putting him at risk by travelling so much with him, that’s something I have to take into account,” Mirza said at the post-match press conference.
“My body is wearing down. My knee was really hurting today and I’m not saying that’s the reason we lost but I do think that it is taking time to recover as I’m getting older,” she said.
Sania,35, is a former world No. 1 in doubles and had a career-best ranking of 27 in singles. She is currently ranked 68th in the world.Sania is the first Indian woman to win a Grand Slam, has won Majors in doubles along with medals at Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.
Sania Mirza’slast grand slam came at the 2016 Australian Open with Martina Hingis. Her last title came in September 2021, when she won her 43rd doubles trophy at the Ostrava Open with Shuai Zhang.
