India ace all set for her final Grand Slam
MELBOURNE: The 2023 Australian Open is Sania Mirza's Grand Slam coda. But that's not what the path-breaking superstar was thinking when getting her legs strapped, prepping for that last dance on a big stage.
It has been 18 years since an 18-year-old told the world if the legendary Serena Williams hadn't heard of her, she would know who the Hyderabadi was after their third-round exchange at Melbourne Park. Forever unfettered.
Sania first spoke of retirement 12-months ago, at the Australian Open, announcing that 2022 would be her last season on Tour. The 36-year-old, however, injured her playing arm last fall.
"After I couldn't play the US Open and finish at the Championships (WTA Finals), I knew that this is how I'd like to end it," said Sania, who is playing doubles with Kazakh Anna Danalina and mixed doubles with fellow Indian Rohan Bopanna. "I wanted to finish on my own terms, not be forced out. This feels right, going out while competing at a level I want to be at and playing my last tournament in Dubai, which is home."
Sania, who came back on Tour in 2020 following a maternity break that stretched across two years, ran into the pandemic which derailed her efforts somewhat. That combined with injuries meant Sania, who has won six Grand Slam titles — three doubles and three mixed doubles — didn't quite hit the notes she did in her first essay.
Sania isn't one for excessive display of emotion. She's easy on the vocabulary. It is what it is, she'd often say in her younger days, when you accosted her in corridors of the game the world over. And it was usually accompanied by a laugh. Post-match expressions could be different, away from the camera. Broken rackets, head buried in the palm of her hand, there were times when she wondered if she'd ever get up again. She did, in a matter of hours. Or minutes.
So, when she turned the clock back in a social media post over the weekend, she let her appreciation show. Then for a whole hour aftershe sobbed alone, let the tears run for the girl who was and the woman she is today. "I'm a really emotional person, I'm just not good at showing it," Sania said, pausing before adding, "rather I'm good at hiding it."
The 36-year-old, who welcomed her parents — Nasima and Imran and son Izhaan — to Melbourne on the weekend, said she was feeling light and relaxed. "I'm ready to compete."
Asked what the sport had meant to her, Sania shrugged. "Tennis is not in the past tense for me," she said. "I will always be around the sport, my academies, commentary, I'm not coaching now, but I might one day, who knows?"
"This sport has made me," she said, "not just as a player, it has shaped my personality." Remember that forehand.
