Sania Mirza announces retirement from professional tennis in February, here’s the reason why

The
former
doubles
World
No.1
will
play
her
last
game
at
the
WTA
1000
event
in
Dubai
in
February.

The
36-year-old
claimed
that
she
doesn’t
have
the
emotional
push
to
compete
anymore
and
that
her
priorities
are
changing.

“I
really
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,”
she
was
quoted
on
the
WTA
website.

After
hanging
up
her
shoes,
the
tennis
superstar
from
Hyderabad
will
focus
on
her
academics
in
Dubai,
where
she
has
been
residing
for
more
than
ten
years
with
her
husband,
former
Pakistan
cricketer
Shoaib
Malik.

Sania
Mirza-Shoaib
Malik
Divorce:
Celebrity
couple
officially
split
after
12
years
of
marriage,
claim
reports

Sania
Mirza
Swansong

Mirza,
who
has
been
the
greatest
women’s
tennis
player
India
has
ever
produced,
has
won
six
Grand
Slam
doubles
titles.
Her
last
major
competition
will
be
the
upcoming
Australian
Open,
where
she
was
crowned
the
women’s
doubles
champion
in
2016.

She
will
be
pairing
alongside
Kazakhstan’s
Anna
Danilin
in
the
first
Grand
Slam
of
2023.
Her
fans
would
be
hoping
for
her
to
finish
her
Grand
Slam
career
on
a
high.

Sania
Mirza
Tennis
Career

Mirza
–
who
was
the
flagbearer
of
Indian
tennis
–
became
the
first
player
from
the
country
to
win
a
WTA
singles
title,
when
she
won
her
hometown
Hyderabad
event
in
2005.
Mirza
broke
into
the
top
30
in
the
world
by
2007
and
reached
her
career-high
ranking
of
world
number
27.

She
was
ranked
by
the
Women’s
Tennis
Association
as
the
Indian
No.
1
in
singles
from
2003
until
her
retirement
from
singles
in
2013.
Her
maiden
Grand
Slam
success
came
in
2009
when
she
clinched
the
Australian
Open
mixed
doubles
title
with
Mahesh
Bhupathi.

In
2013,
she
bagged
her
second
major
title
alongside
Bhupati
in
the
French
Open
2012.
Two
years
later,
she
partnered
with
Brazilian
Bruno
Soares
to
bag
her
third
mixed
doubles
title
at
the
US
Open
in
2014.

In
2015
Mirza
partnered
with
Swiss
legend
Martina
Hingis
and
the
duo
ended
up
winning
three
back-to-back
Grand
Slam
doubles
titles
together.