Sania Mirza declared that the WTA 1000 competition in Dubai in February would be her last match. In an interview with the WTA website, the Indian tennis legend made these comments.
“The plan is to try and retire in Dubai during the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships,” she told wtatennis.com.
The six-time doubles Major champion Mirza will retire at the age of 36, which also means that the Australian Open this month will be his final Grand Slam. Anna Danilina of Kazakhstan will be the Indian’s partner in her final Grand Slam, her father Imran Mirza has already announced. Mirza previously withdrew from the US Open due to an elbow injury.
“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 have been training,” she told wtatennis.com.
“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.”
“For me it’s important to share my experience in the places that I live in, that’s why I have one in Hyderabad and one in Dubai,” she said.
“We’re trying to spread and bring tennis to people’s homes, and that’s really the plan,” said Mirza, who peaked at No.27 in the world in singles.
“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.”