As Sania Mirza hangs up her racquet and whites, we piece together landmarks from her remarkable journey that put India on the court
Pic/Getty Images
Sania Mirza, 36, has come a long way since she first held a racquet as a six-year-old at the famous Nizam Club here.
Though Sania bid goodbye to Grand Slam tennis last week—at the Australian Open in Melbourne—the journey hasn’t ended. Sania promised she would still be part of some events. But the first Grand Slam of the year can be viewed as the ending of a major chapter in her career.
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Mirza at the 2017 French Open in Paris
She would have liked to end her Slam stint with a victory in the mixed doubles final, in which she partnered with her old friend Rohan Bopanna. But out-and-out fairy tale endings in sport are few and far between. Not for a moment should we forget that across her two-decade and beyond international tennis career, she scaled many peaks.
Okay, let’s talk numbers. The Australian Open mixed doubles title would have been her seventh Grand Slam title. She has enjoyed over 200 wins in Singles Grand Slam tournaments, in which she was a finalist six times.
Sania Mirza celebrates with her son after winning her mixed doubles second round match against Aidan McHugh (left) and Emily Webley-Smith on Day Six of Wimbledon 2021. Pics/Getty Images
She has won 43 WTA (Women Tennis Association) doubles titles, one in singles (at Hyderabad in 2005) apart from numerous ITF (International Tennis Federation) titles—all this making her deserving of being called the greatest of all times of Indian women’s tennis.
The Slam exit was planned well before the last point was conceded in the Victorian city last week. Under the words ‘Life update’, Sania wrote: “With a lot of hope despite all the odds stacked against us, we dared to dream of playing in a Grand Slam some day and of representing our country with honour at the highest level in sport. As I look back at my career now, not only did I get to play well over half a century of Grand Slam tournaments, but I was fortunate enough to win a bunch of them, too, with God’s grace.”
Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza share a happy moment at the 2016 Australian Open. Pic/Getty Images
The pride of playing for India featured in her statement too: “To win medals for my country has been my biggest honour, and I feel truly humbled to have been able to stand up on the podium, knowing that the tricolor had been raised high to be seen and respected by millions all over the world, all because of something that I was privileged enough to achieve. I have tears in my eyes and goosebumps even as I type this.”
Father Imran Mirza, so very instrumental in producing this champion player, couldn’t have been prouder. “She had given enough indication that she will produce the desired results once she held a racquet. She didn’t shirk away from hard work. She was very focussed,’’ Imran says.
Actor Salman Khan with Sania and her sister, Anam, at the launch of Mirza’s autobiography Ace Against Odds. Pic/Ashish Rane
Sania’s serious practice sessions began at the Sinnet Tennis club in 1999, under Prahalad Jain and Ravi Chander. She tasted success at a young age, taking the court by storm at 12. She won eight titles in the under-14 and under-16 tournaments in the north. Mother Naseem says her daughter was always positive: “She was never afraid to lose. She exhibited her fighting qualities and flair within one month of picking up a racquet.’’
Imran recalled how they were influenced by Martina Hingis’s family at the start of Sania’s career. “As a middle-class family, we made a lot of sacrifices,” he remarks, “We didn’t mind skipping her classes. Hingis was trained by her mother and father. We realised parents play a huge role, particularly in India, where there were hardly any facilities or encouragement then.”
Mirza smiles as she stands next to her father, her first coach, at a press conference in Hyderabad on March 30, 2010 after she announced her wedding to Pakistani cricket star Shoaib Malik. Pic/AFP
Mirza Sr, who played club cricket in Mumbai in his younger days, drove his Maruti 800 for days to various parts of the country for Sania’s tournaments. Indeed, he had the sporting drive.
Sania once told this journalist, “I used to play on courts made of cow dung. There were no hard courts or anyone to practise with, and none to benchmark myself [against].”
She grew in stature by becoming the first Indian woman to win the junior Wimbledon doubles with Russia’s Alisa Kleyanova in 2003. According to Imran, that title breathed new confidence into her.
Sania broke into the 200-ranking barrier in 2004 and in the same year, she became the first Indian woman to reach the third round of the Australian Open.
Vasudeva Reddy and S Narendranath, who were the big stars from Hyderabad after SP Misra, felt that Sania was always a bold girl, always mentally strong. The mental battle had been as critical for Sania as the physical one, they said.
Narendranath, who trained Sania from 2013 to 2020, reckoned she gave a dimension to Indian women’s tennis: “She was always cheerful on court and never looked unhappy there despite the hard work. Her hunger to excel, despite so many injuries, was the biggest plus point.”
Every time she would win a Grand Slam, we would be treated to biryani at their house. The Mirzas were outstanding hosts; they would make every journalist comfortable. My first big piece on her was a front page article in a national newspaper when Sania won the Wimbledon junior doubles title. I got the news from her. “Uncle, I won the doubles title,” she exclaimed over the phone late that night. I was delighted and overjoyed.
Slowly and steadily, Sania concentrated more on doubles. Her first partner was Mary Pierce, the French Open champion. She followed in the footsteps of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, who had already made a big mark as doubles players.
Sania’s forte was the deadly forehand shots which she even exhibited in the Australian Open recently. “It goes like a bullet,” says Imran, “We worked on her forehand for years. It is not about power but she, like the Hyderabad batsmen ML Jaisimha, Mohammed Azharuddin or VVS Laxman, is very wristy while playing forehand shots. At the last moment, she turns the wrist. It came naturally to her.’’
Even Hingis noticed it and made a mention of that strength in the Foreword to Sania’s autobiography, Ace Against Odds. “She has a merciless forehand and her well-placed serve starts perfectly in each point,” the great Swiss wrote. “Where other people would break their bones, she calmly produces a winner with an incredible flick of the wrist.”
Sania was at her best when she partnered with Cara Black of Zimbabwe, Hingis and Bhupathi.
Imran feels the Wimbledon Doubles crown in 2015 with Hingis brought her instant stardom. “For me,” he says, “the biggest satisfaction was winning the women’s Wimbledon doubles crown in 2015. She didn’t realise how big she became after that win.
“The years from 2014 to 2016 were the best phase, as she finished No.1 in the world. In 2014, she won with Black and then next year, with Hingis. The first WTA Finals title in 2014 was more memorable as she and Black demolished top seeds Hsieh Suwei and Peng Shuai of China 6-1, 6-0.
“She won two year-end WTA championship titles. No Indian has won this title—neither Bhupathi nor Paes. She won it in 2014 with Black and 2015 with Hingis. The year-end WTA title is of special significance as the top eight best seeds play in this tournament, unlike the Grand Slams. You don’t get easy matches; in Grand Slam tournaments, it is a draw of 64, you get some easy matches.”
Sania was always more comfortable with Bhupathi than Paes. In fact, she was agitated when she was asked to partner with Paes during the controversy involving him and Bhupathi. Sania’s big regret was missing an Olympic medal because of the Paes-Bhupathi controversy, although she won the Asian Games gold and silver medals with Hyderabad players Vishnu Vardhan and Saketh Sai Myneni.’’
These two Hyderabad players helped Sania in her comeback journey after motherhood.
“We formed a Hyderabad WhatsApp group,” says Vardhan, “Whenever she was in Hyderabad, we had long practice sessions. It was special after her son Izhaan was born. The comeback journey in 2021 was littered with obstacles. She had chikungunya and bouts of injuries. But Sania was neither shaken nor did she lose her focus. The practice sessions were relentless. We were tired, but she wasn’t. The best part was, after training, we were treated to sumptuous biryani and chai at her house.’’
Sania, who won the WTA Hobart Trophy in 2021 with Nadiia Kichenok of Ukraine, says of the period, “My son was asleep when I won the winning point. I couldn’t look at him as he was inside the players’ lounge. It was very special for me. But one day when he grows [up], he will understand the magnitude of all these things, the meaning of sport, winning and losing. Hope he will look back and be proud.”
Izhaan watched his mother stretch every sinew while partnering Bopanna last week in Melbourne. It’s a memory that could well stay with him forever. Just like Sania’s contribution to tennis stays in the golden pages of Indian tennis history.
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