Swan Song

Indian icon Sania Mirza says goodbye to professional tennis

A 20-year professional tennis career came to an end last month when 36-year-old Sania Mirza bid an emotional farewell after losing in the Dubai Open alongside Madison Keys.

The former doubles world number one and six-time Grand Slam champion in doubles and mixed doubles will focus her attention on her tennis academies and on her mentorship role for the Royal Challengers Bangalore women’s cricket team in the Indian Premier League.

Mirza started playing tennis at 6 years old on courts made out of cow dung in the Indian city of Hyderabad. Twelve years later, she had her first breakthrough moment when she reached the third round of the Australian Open. During the 2015 season, she teamed up with Swiss player Martina Hingis, and the pair became a formidable doubles team— winning Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open all in a row.

Although she inspired countless young South Asian girls to play sports, she knows there is much more to do on that front. She told reporters she is determined to help the next generation of Indian girls to “believe they can be champions… It gets me to do something where I’m able to share my experience in trying to make women’s sport better and more accepted, more acknowledged for the future in the subcontinent.”