Sania Mirza, Former Doubles No.1, To Retire At Dubai Tennis Championships 2023
New Delhi: Indian tennis star Sania Mirza will hang her racquets after the Dubai Duty Free Championships which begins on February 19.
“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 out of everything,” the former doubles No.1 told wtatennis.com.
“And honestly, the person that I am, I like to do things on my own terms. So I don’t want to be forced out by injury. So I’ve been training. The plan is to try and retire in Dubai during the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships,” she added.
A mother to 4-year-old boy Izhaan and wife to Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik, the 36-year-old Sania initially planned to hang up her racquet at the end of last season. But an elbow injury forced her out of US Open and she had to end 2022 as early as in August.
Sania will play her final Major at the Australian Open and will partner Kazakhstan’s Anna Danilina in the women’s doubles competition. She is a six-time Major champion — three in doubles and three in mixed doubles.
Sania has been living in Dubai for a decade now and already opened a tennis academy. In an interview with ‘Curly Tales Middle East’, the dotting mother revealed that she doesn’t has the capacity to mentally and emotionally push anymore.
“I’m 36, and honestly my body is beat, that is the main reason for it. I turned pro in 2003. Priorities change, and now my priority is not to push my body to the limit every single day,” added the Indian.