Sania Mirza has retired from international tennis after accomplishing the success not seen by many and setting a high bar for the next generation.
The Indian tennis player bid farewell to her 20-year professional tennis career on February 21. She lost her first-round women’s doubles match at the Dubai Tennis Championships alongside US’ Madison Keys. Sania and Madison lost the match 4-6, 0-6 against the Russian pair of Viktoria Kudermetova and Liudmila Samsonova. In January, Sania played a Grand Slam tournament, with Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna as partner; the pair was placed second in the Australian Open 2023.
Sania finished her career with 43 WTA doubles championships and one singles trophy. The tennis ace, who went pro in 2003, retired from tennis at 36, winning six Grand Slam championships, including three women’s doubles titles with Swiss star Martina Hingis. Two of her three mixed doubles matches (the 2009 Australian Open and the 2012 French Open) came with fellow Indian player Mahesh Bhupathi; her third title win, the US Open championship, was with Brazilian champion Bruno Soares. She almost won bronze in the 2016 Rio Olympics, but ultimately lost to Bopanna in a playoff.
