Indian Tennis legend Sania Mirza has finally decided to bid goodbye to the tennis court. The multiple-time doubles major winner will hang her racket as a momentum of pride after next month’s Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships.
Mirza had last year taken to her official Instagram handle and announced her retirement owing to her injuries. However, she later changed her plans saying she likes to do things on her own terms and that is why she didn’t want to be forced out by injury.
“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 US Open so I had to pull out of everything. 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,” Mirza told.
Sania pulled out of the US Open doubles event due to an injury that she had sustained in Canada, a development that led to a change in her retirement plans. Sania said in an Instagram post that she had injured herself during the Canadian Open in Toronto this month and the scans showed a torn tendon.
Mirza cites her age as the reason for retirement. I’m 36, and honestly, my body is beaten, that is the main reason for it. And 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 added.
Sania has won six doubles majors and was amongst India’s top-seeded players for almost two decades. She also won the 2010 Commonwealth Games Silver medal in Women’s singles.