India's decorated tennis player Sania Mirza has decided to hang up her racquet after the WTA 1000 event in Dubai in the latter half of February 2023. Ahead of her final Grand Slam appearance in Australia, trailblazer Sania shared an emotional post on her social media accounts as she prepares for one last hurrah at the Australian Open. Sania has won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open women's doubles crown once each, besides winning one title each in mixed doubles at the Australian Open, French Open and US Open.
"Thirty (yes, 30!) years ago a 6-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. The fight for our dreams began at 6!” Mirza said in her social media post.
"My Grand Slam journey started with the Australian Open back in 2005. So, it goes without saying that this would be the most perfect Grand Slam to end my career with.
"As I get ready to play my last Australian Open 18 years after I played my first, and then the Dubai Open in Feb, have so many emotions flashing through me with pride and gratitude, perhaps, being the foremost. I take pride in everything have been able to achieve over the last 20 years of my professional career and I am so grateful for the memories that I have been able to create.
"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," she added.
Sania will compete in doubles with Kazakhstan’s Anna Danilina while she is likely to partner countryman Rohan Bopanna for the mixed doubles at the Australian Open 2023.
