Sania Mirza to retire in February 2023

The six-time major champion will take part in this month’s Australian Open alongside Kazakhstan’s Anna Danilina

By Web Desk
January 07, 2023
Sania Mirza also recently opened a tennis academy in Dubai — WTA

Indian tennis star Sania Mirza has announced that she will bring the curtain down on her professional career after Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships next month.

Earlier, Mirza was set to retire 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.

“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,” Mirza 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.”

The six-time major champion Mirza will take part in this month’s Australian Open alongside Kazakhstan’s Anna Danilina.

Recently, in an interview with “Curly Tales Middle East”, Mirza also shed light on why now was the right time to retire.

“I’m 36, and honestly my body is beat, that is the main reason for it,” Mirza said. “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.”

Mirza is also looking forward to sharing her experience with young players after recently opening a tennis academy in Dubai.

“We’re trying to spread and bring tennis to people’s homes, and that’s really the plan,” she said.

“I feel like why don’t we have players coming out of the UAE when you have money, you have infrastructure, you have everything, but you don’t have the players?” Mirza said. “There’s a problem somewhere so we’ve got to tap on the problem, whatever it may be, and try to be part of a solution.

“For me it’s important to share my experience in the places that I live in, that’s why I have one in Hyderabad [since 2013] and one in Dubai.”

The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, a WTA 1000 event, will start on February 19.

Comments