From surviving Indian tennis to restructuring it with her new initiative The Next Set, the former World No. 1 is helping young female tennis players navigate the gaps she once tackled alone
Sania Mirza
When Sania Mirza walks into a room now, she no longer carries a racquet. She carries a vision. She might be done playing matches. But she is not done fighting.
In a wide-ranging conversation with Sunday mid-day, the former World No. 1 in doubles speaks like a retired athlete who has unfinished business with the sport she grew up loving. If her playing career was about surviving the system, her newest move, The Next Set, is about confronting it head-on.
“Twenty-five years ago, sport, especially for young girls, was not really a path that everybody chose. There was nobody to follow, nobody to lead you through it,” she says, matter-of-factly.
“I’m just trying to help girls achieve the best of their potential using whatever experience and resources I have.”
It sounds simple. But the fallacy is that it isn’t. With The Next Set, her new initiative to support Indian women tennis players,
Mirza is filling the gaps she knows too well, from the fragile junior-to-pro transition, the isolation of the tour, the absence of structured support.
And it begins with an experience that is hard to get past. At 16, Mirza had faith. She had family backing her. What she did not have was a roadmap. And the struggle, she says, was constant. She says, “There was literally no way of knowing what to do next. I knew that if I ever got the chance, I would attempt to help the next generation.”
Sania Mirza in action during her doubles match with Johanna Konta (not pictured) against Francesca Schiavone and Roberta Vinci during the 2023 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon. PIC/GETTY IMAGES
Indian tennis produces promise. It does not always produce longevity. And Mirza refuses to simplify the problem. “I wish there were some secret where we could pinpoint and say, ‘This is the problem.’ It’s a mix of funding, coaching, and infrastructure. A lot has changed and improved over the last three decades, but we still have a long way to go for us to compete at the highest level. It’s also about knowing how to do it, when to do it, where to do it, the kind of work that needs to go in — playing the right tournaments, getting the right coaching. There’s no one reason holding us back.”
And the one phase, she says, is especially unforgiving and needs immediate attention is, “I think the transition from junior to pro is where a lot of youngsters lose their way or fail, for multiple different reasons. More than frustration, it’s about helping them get through that phase.”
Mirza has seen what global preparation looks like. She knows what Indian players are up against. “It is extremely important because you’re competing against players who’ve had full support staff and full teams from the ages of eight or ten. Gone are the days when you could just travel by yourself, that’s maybe where we lag behind. We’re trying to provide that support staff and team to take away some of the worries. Obviously, it costs a lot of money. It’s not easy to afford travelling with an entire team — a physiotherapist, trainer, coach. We have a nutritionist on board, travelling with them and available online.
That’s definitely a step in the right direction.”
This is the heart of The Next Set: professionalising survival. “Tennis is a brutally isolating sport. You lose alone, you win alone. You spend so much time away from your family — travelling 30 weeks a year, living out of a suitcase. You go through huge emotional swings for so many weeks. With the experience I’ve had, and these girls are experiencing it too, we can help them cope with those psychological and mentally tough days. We’re trying to create a system and a team where everybody feels they’re part of one unit.”
There is another opponent in India: self-doubt, which is a personal battle to fight for every female athlete. “Yes, parents do worry. But times have changed and it’s not the same anymore. We’ve had women sports superstars come out of India who’ve shown us that sport can be a career choice. That worry exists for both girls and boys. What we’re trying to do is create a system where players only need to worry about playing, parents worry about supporting their children, and we worry about everything else that comes with it.”
If the structure exists, fear reduces. If fear reduces, more girls stay the course. At the moment, she points out bluntly, India has no regular women’s presence at Grand Slams. “My immediate goal is that we get consistent representation, in singles or doubles.”
For now, the initiative has begun with players already at the top of the domestic pyramid. “The Next Set has started with the top players in the country who need that support, we can give them a push to hopefully play Grand Slams and compete at the highest level. But the plan is to go younger, to spot talent and support them for a longer period of time.”
There is a different kind of stamina required for a full-fledged entrepreneurial shift. Mirza says she is prepped. “I run a couple of other sport-based businesses, and thankfully I have a really good team. They’re on point with everything, so I don’t get into complete micromanagement. I’m more hands-on when it comes to talking with the girls and helping them personally with their game. The admin is handled by my team. Of course, I supervise. Everything is a challenge, I won’t lie. We’re trying to do something that’s never been done before.”
First step. Then the next. Ultimately, what does success look like? “It’s about broader access and creating top players. It’s about creating champions and giving young athletes a level playing field to be the best version of themselves against the best in the world. Once you create a system like this, more young girls and their parents won’t be scared about cost or logistics. They’ll know there’s somewhere to go and someone willing to help.”
The former World No.1 is no longer measuring success in sets won. She is measuring it in systems she will build for the next line of stars in the game. And this time, she is not waiting for anyone to show the way. She says she owes it to her 16-year-old self.
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