\n
\nKARACHI:\u00a0When Sania Mirza became the first Indian to win a Women\u2019s Tennis Association event in 2005, the victory marked the beginning of her contributions to several firsts for tennis in the country.<\/p>\n
\nNow, after an illustrious career that has turned Mirza into a symbol of confidence and resilience, the 35-year-old is carving out plans for a future beyond the court, where she hopes to inspire and nurture young talents in the sport she loves.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cFor me, playing tennis was not about wanting to be famous one day or getting a lot of wealth; it was my love for it that overtook everything else,\u201d Mirza told Arab News in an exclusive interview.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIf I\u2019m able to inspire even one girl to pick up a tennis racket, it would mean a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nIndia\u2019s most accomplished woman tennis player said that she has spent the past year setting up her tennis academy in Dubai, after establishing several facilities in her home country.<\/p>\n
\nIn the UAE, two chapters are currently up and running, with the newest location, opened earlier this month, located in the Oud Metha area, where many people from the subcontinent reside.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cDubai is my second home, it has been for a long time,\u201d she said, speaking from her UAE house.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cOur dream is to try to encourage young boys and girls to not just pick up cricket, but to pick up tennis and actually be good at it. Who knows, maybe we\u2019ll have a champion from Dubai someday.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nAs her conversation with Arab News briefly touched on the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Mirza said that the British monarch\u2019s passing felt like \u201can end of a couple of eras.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIt is definitely sad and I think it was personal on different levels for all of us, for many different reasons. I love royalty, so for me it was heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMirza\u2019s own headline-making announcement occurred earlier this year in January, when she revealed that planned to retire from competition at the end of the 2022 season.<\/p>\n
\nBut the plan might change after injury forced her to pull out of the US Open last month.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI still haven\u2019t recovered from my injury, so I am unsure about my plans at the moment,\u201d she said. \u201cOnce I recuperate and begin training and playing, I will plan my next move.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMirza, who first picked up the racket when she was six, has won six Grand Slam titles, including three mixed doubles trophies.<\/p>\n
\nWhen her singles career was cut short by wrist injuries, she reinvented herself as a doubles player and went on to become the first Indian to reach the top of the WTA doubles rankings in April 2015.<\/p>\n
\nBut the accomplishments that catapulted her to international fame were not without their challenges, Mirza said.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI was the first to be able to win so many titles, but what people don\u2019t realize is that it was difficult to be the first one because there is no path to follow; you\u2019re learning from your own mistakes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe amount of work that goes into becoming a professional athlete and staying one for over two decades is hard. What everybody sees is only a few hours we\u2019re on the court, which is actually the easiest part.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nAfter the athlete took maternity leave in 2018 to give birth to her first child with Pakistani cricket player Shoaib Malik, she faced scrutiny when she decided to return to the court.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cPeople are constantly judging my abilities as a mother. I should not have to choose between being a good mother and being a tennis player. Why can\u2019t I be both? Why am I being questioned if I\u2019m able to give my family time, but a man is not being questioned for the same thing?\u201d<\/p>\n
\nBefore she became pregnant, Mirza said that people had assumed the couple could not have children.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIt didn\u2019t occur to them that I am a professional athlete and that maybe my career was more important to me than having a child at that time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\nBelieving that she had a \u201cbigger purpose\u201d than merely winning competitions, her experience compelled her to be more outspoken about the issue, a subject that has also made headlines for other champions, such as US tennis player Serena Williams.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI\u2019ve been put in this position where I can reach out to a lot more people and I feel it\u2019s my responsibility to speak about such issues,\u201d Mirza said.<\/p>\n
\nThe tennis superstar was also vocal about ageism in sports and said her decision to retire is due to her many injuries.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe only thing that should matter is if you\u2019re able to win. For me, age is just a number. I\u2019m retiring because I feel like my body is giving up on me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nWith plans to encourage a new generation of young athletes and expand her tennis academy in the UAE, the woman who grew up in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad told Arab News that a biopic might be in the works, though there is \u201cnothing concrete yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMirza said that any biopic must not only show the truth and struggles, but also \u201cinspire kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI want to highlight that everything comes with a price, and every effort to be successful at anything requires sacrifice and commitment. But once you get there, it is special.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n
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