While the announcement was on expected lines, it has still come as a bit of shock for fans who have become used to watching Sania on the WTA tour – first as a singles player and then on the doubles circuit
File image of Sania Mirza at the Australian Open. AFP
Sania Mirza made a whole country emotional when she announced at the Australian Open that 2022 will be her last season as a professional athlete. Mirza is a tennis icon in India and after her announcement, people started remembering her best days and tournaments and some even wished she would not retire.
A few days later, Mirza came out saying that she might have made the announcement too soon and regretted making so many people so sad, so soon.
Speaking to CNN News18 from her home in Dubai, where she also plays her next tour event, Mirza opened up about her decision to suddenly announce 2022 as her final season on the tennis circuit.
“It wasn’t really planned. It was spontaneous. But I had been thinking about it. I didn’t really think this is where I’m going to say it or I hadn’t planned it., I honestly didn’t talk about it to anybody at home. Not even my husband (Shoaib Malik). I think that this is something that I’ve been thinking about for the last 6 months.”
While the announcement was on expected lines, it has still come as a bit of shock for fans who have become used to watching Sania on the WTA tour – first as a singles player and then on the doubles circuit. “Everybody got so emotional about it that I was like, have I said this too soon, maybe I should have waited till like two weeks before I was going to do it?”, she says laughing. “I regret making so many people sad. I was getting these messages from people that after a few days I said to them, I’m really sorry, I regret making this announcement so soon. I wish I had waited for the entire seven, eight months to actually say it.”
It’s a decision that couldn’t have come easy even for Sania who has achieved “more than she could dream of” in her own words.
“It is a journey that we are all on and this journey has to end at some point. Acceptance is a very big thing and you have to accept certain realities of life. For me, even though the level of tennis is still there, I don’t feel that, you know, the tennis is really the problem, but my body is and that is a reality I need to accept. I’m the only person who knows what it takes to be at this level at this age or with this body and what it takes to recover after playing a match, the pain I feel, how much I feel, how many painkillers I have to take. I think there’s only one person who knows that and that’s me. So yeah, that is definitely one of the reasons for it.”
“I always have been very grateful for everything that I have been able to not just achieve, but for the love that I have got over the last more than 20 years now. And it’s something that I never take for granted. Along the way, there have been bumps, but the love has always remained. I still want to win every time that I step on the court and that’s not going to change when I compete.”
“I am 35, I’ve had one child, there’s a pandemic going on and people should have seen it coming, sooner rather than later. But everybody acted like I was 22 when I was making this announcement,” she quips laughing again.
‘I do feel quite happy that people are thinking that I can probably carry on for a few more years. Maybe I can if I really push my body and but I think the whole mental aspect of it is getting more and more difficult for me. You know, it is a lot and to find that motivation day after day to go out and put your body through everything. That kind of grind is not something that I am enjoying as much as I did. That’s the honest truth.”
The former doubles world number one also conceded that travelling with her young son Izhaan was also getting tougher with the pandemic and it is something that played on her mind.
But looking back, Sania said she felt more than content on the career she has been able to have with 6 grand slam titles and she feels she can still be in contention for more in her swansong year.
“If someone told me at the Australian Open 2005 when I was 18 years old, and I came off the court play after playing Serena (Williams) that this is what I’ll achieve in my life, I would have taken it with both hands and said thank you very much. The only thing that comes to my mind is that I’ve been so privileged and honoured but most of all, so blessed to be able to achieve so many of my goals that I’ve had and maybe surpass some of them as well.
“I was able to be number one in the state, number one in the country and I was able to be number one in the world, I don’t think there’s anything more that you can ask for in a career. Winning Grand Slams, medals for your country, playing 4 Olympics, I mean, these are the things that really come to my mind. And some of the biggest wins to be Top-30 in the world in singles was something that only dreams are made of. But right now, I’m focused on the rest of the year.”
Sania’s legacy is one of a path-breaker both on and off the court. One that will be tough to match.
She changed the way Indian athletes – especially female athletes can be as opposed to what they were supposed to be under the public glare. And that glare was particularly high on Sania as a teenager since her junior Wimbledon title win in 2003.
“I think I helped young girls believe that you don’t have to follow a certain path to be successful. And you don’t have to always fit in the norm to be successful. I maybe played a small part in helping girls believe that you can achieve milestones and dreams away from what girls are supposed to do in society. You can pick up a tennis racket, you can pick up boxing gloves, you can do whatever you want as long as you’re given the right kind of opportunity to do it.”
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