Last season in pro tennis, says tired Sania Mirza

Sania Mirza has realised that it is getting difficult physically to bear the challenges of professional tennis. The ace Indian player revealed she was contemplating retirement.

The announcement came after her elimination from the women’s doubles at the Australian Open. The 35-year-old Hyderabadi appeared a pale shadow of herself in her first round encounter on Wednesday.

She thereafter announced that 2022 will be her last season since her body is “wearing down” and motivation and energy for the everyday grind is not the same anymore.

“There’s a bunch reasons for it. It’s not as simple as ‘okay I’m not going to play’. I do feel my recovery is taking longer, I do feel, considering my son is three years old, I’m putting him at risk by travelling so much with him, that’s something I have to take into account,” Mirza said at the post-match press conference.

“My body is wearing down. My knee was really hurting today and I’m not saying that’s the reason we lost but I do think that it is taking time to recover as I’m getting older,” she said.

Sania had returned to tennis after giving birth to her son in March 2019 but her progress was later thwarted by the coronavirus pandemic.

She made the retirement announcement after losing the Australian open women’s doubles first round with partner Nadiia Kichenok.

The seasoned pro to her credit has six Grand Slam titles – three each in women and mixed doubles. Interestingly, she had in cup board at least one crown from all the four majors, having won the Australian Open (2016), Wimbledon and US Open (both in 2025) in women’s doubles; and the Australian Open (2009); French Open (2012) and US Open (2014) in mixed doubles.

Agencies