India’s former doubles world number one Sania Mirza said she will call time on her career after next month’s Dubai Tennis Championships as her planned 2022 retirement has been delayed by injury.
Mirza, considered her country’s greatest female tennis player, has won six Grand Slam doubles titles and will compete in her final major this month at the Australian Open, where she won the women’s doubles crown in 2016. .
“I was going to stop right after the WTA Finals because we were going to be in the WTA Finals, but I tore a tendon in my elbow before the US Open,” Mirza told the WTA Tour website. Diya, so I had to give up everything.” In an interview published on Friday.
Mirza, who is dealing with a lingering calf injury, had planned to retire at the end of the 2022 season, but an elbow injury in August ruled him out of the US Open.
“Honestly, the person I am, I like to do things on my own terms. So I don’t want to be forced by injuries. That’s why I’m training,” she added.
Mirza became the first Indian to win a WTA singles title when she won the event in her hometown Hyderabad in 2005.
After suffering from a recurring, career-threatening wrist injury, Mirza formed a doubles partnership with Swiss great Martina Hingis. The self-proclaimed “Santina” team has won 14 titles, including Wimbledon and the US and Australian Opens.
Mirza will take on Kazakhstan’s Anna Danielina at the Australian Open starting January 16, before bidding farewell to the sport in the United Arab Emirates, where she has been with her husband, former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik, for more than a decade. are residing
“I’m 36 years old, and honestly, my body takes a beating; that’s the main reason,” Mirza said in a recent interview. “I don’t really have the mental capacity to take it any further emotionally.
“I turned pro in 2003. Priorities change, and now my priority is no longer pushing my body to the limit every single day.”
In January 2021, Sania said, “There are a couple of reasons, it’s not as simple as ‘OK I’m not going to play’. I think my recovery is taking longer, I’m in my 3-one.” A year old son is at risk of traveling so much with him, I have to take care of that stuff.
