Q. In 2010, there was a time when you wanted to retire. How did you get out of that phase?
A. I was badly hurt. I couldn’t pick up my phone, or comb my hair. I had slipped into depression and wasn’t speaking to anyone. In a few months’ time I snapped out of it, and accepted the fact that tennis wasn’t going to a part of me anymore. After five-six months, my wrist started feeling better with rehab. I began to use it, and started hitting a few tennis balls for fun. I built on this, my mental strength improved, and before I knew it, I had won medals at the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games. The phase brought me back to life.

India’s tennis queen Sania Mirza with husband and Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik on the sets of a television show in Mumbai on April 14, 2012. They got married in 2010. PIC/AFP