Sania Mirza announces retirement from professional Tennis; details here
New Delhi: Former tennis doubles World No 1 Sania Mirza has confirmed that she would be retiring from professional tennis, at the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) 1000 in Dubai in February this year.
The 36-year-old Indian tennis star spoke about her decision in an interview on the WTA website, reports Livemint.
Sania Mirza, who missed the US Open 2022 due to an elbow injury, will partner Kazakhstan’s Anna Danilina in the women's doubles at the Australian Open in January. This would be her final appearance at a Grand Slam event. Mirza has also been fighting a calf injury and had planned to retire at the end of the 2022 season, but postponed her retirement plans on account of missing the US Open.
She told the WTA that she would no longer be able to 'emotionally push herself'. “I turned pro in 2003... Now my priority is not to push my body to the limit every single day,” she added.
Post-retirement, Mirza said, she would focus on her studies in Dubai, where she has been living for more than a decade now with her husband Shoaib Malik, former Pakistan cricketer.
Regarded as the greatest women's tennis player from India, Mirza became the first Indian to win a WTA singles title when she won the event in her native city Hyderabad in 2005.
She has won six Grand Slam doubles titles, starting with the Australian Open mixed doubles title in 2009, partnering Mahesh Bhupathi. Her second title too was alongside Bhupathi, as they won the French Open 2012. Mirza won the 2014 US Open mixed doubles title with Brazilian Bruno Soares. Partnering Swiss star Martina Hingis in 2015, she won three back-to-back Grand Slam doubles titles, including the Australian Open women's doubles in 2016.
She also entered the top 30 rankings in 2007, her career-high being World No 27.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
