Hyderabad: Former doubles No.1 Sania Mirza has confirmed her plans to retire from professional tennis at Dubai Tennis Championships, a WTA 1000 event, which begins on February 19.
The 36-year old Mirza initially intended to hang up her racquet at the end of last season, but an elbow injury ruled her out of the US Open and forced her to end 2022 as early as August.
A six-time major champion — three in doubles and three in mixed doubles — Mirza has signed up to compete in this month’s Australian Open alongside Kazakhstan’s Anna Danilina.
The India tennis star who has been living in Dubai for more than a decade, will then look to bid farewell to the sport in the Emirates, where she has competed for many years in front of her massive fanbase.
Mirza has been dealing with a lingering calf problem but is hoping it won’t stop her from saying her goodbyes on the match court.
A mother to 4-year-old boy Izhaan, Mirza has recently launched a tennis academy in Dubai, which already operates in three locations and will venture into two more neighborhoods in the coming weeks.
Mirza, regarded as her country’s greatest women’s tennis player, has won six Grand Slam doubles titles and will compete in her final major this month at the Australian Open, where she bagged the women’s doubles crown in 2016.
Mirza became the first Indian to win a WTA singles title, when she won her hometown Hyderabad event in 2005. She broke into the top 30 by 2007 and reached her career-high ranking of world number 27.
The maiden triumph came in 2009, as she partnered with Mahesh Bhupathi to clinch the Australian Open mixed doubles title.
She earned a second victory alongside Bhupati in the 2012 French Open.
Her third mixed doubles title victory was at the 2014 US Open, partnering with Brazilian player Bruno Soares.
In 2015 Sania Mirza partnered up with Swiss legend Martina Hingis and won three back-to-back Grand Slam doubles titles.
