Indian tennis star Sania Mirza recalled her journey in a heartfelt note ahead of her retirement in February.
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The tennis star, the wife of Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik, said she was having so many emotions flashing through her with pride and gratitude.
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She added, she took pride in everything she was able to achieve over the last 20 years of her professional career and she was grateful for the memories that she was able to make.
“The greatest memory that I will carry with me for a lifetime is that of the pride and happiness that I saw on the faces of my fellow countrymen and supporters each time I achieved victory and reached milestones in my long career,” the tennis star said.
She added: “Life must move on and I don’t think this is the end but, in fact, a beginning of many different memories to be created, dreams to be achieved and new goals to be set. My son needs me more than ever now and I can’t wait to live a slightly quieter and calmer life while giving him more of my time than I have been able to give so far.”
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Sania Mirza said her dream of becoming a tennis star started when she was six years old. The athlete said she had to fight her coach for learning the sport.
“Thirty years ago a six-year-old girl from Nasr School in Hyderabad, walked onto a tennis court at Nizam Club with her young mom and fought the coach to let her learn how to play tennis as he thought that she was too little,” she wrote.
Related – ‘My body is wearing down’: Sania Mirza reveals retirement plans
Sania Mirza stated she never lost hope of playing a Grand Slam and representing India despite the odds against her. She said not only did she compete in over 50 majors but won many of them by God’s grace.
She said she will call time on her career aged 36 after next month’s Dubai Tennis Championships after her 2022 retirement plans were delayed due to injury.
Sania Mirza, regarded as her country’s greatest women’s tennis player, has won six Grand Slam doubles titles and will compete in her final major this month at the Australian Open, where she bagged the women’s doubles crown in 2016.
