Looking back at the most significant performances from Sania Mirza's inspiring career

Sania Mirza 36 has come a long way since she first held a racquet as a sixyearold at the famous Nizam Club hereThough Sania bid goodbye to Grand Slam tennis last weekmdashat the Australian Open in Melbournemdashthe journey hasnrsquot 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 careerMirza at the 2017 French Open in ParisShe 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 outandout fairy tale endings in sport are few and far between Not for a moment should we forget that across her twodecade and beyond international tennis career she scaled many peaksOkay letrsquos 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 timesSania Mirza celebrates with her son after winning her mixed doubles second round match against Aidan McHugh left and Emily WebleySmith on Day Six of Wimbledon 2021 PicsGetty ImagesShe has won 43 WTA Women Tennis Association doubles titles one in singles at Hyderabad in 2005 apart from numerous ITF International Tennis Federation titlesmdashall this making her deserving of being called the greatest of all times of Indian womenrsquos tennisThe Slam exit was planned well before the last point was conceded in the Victorian city last week Under the words lsquoLife updatersquo Sania wrote ldquoWith 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 Godrsquos gracerdquoMartina Hingis and Sania Mirza share a happy moment at the 2016 Australian Open PicGetty ImagesThe pride of playing for India featured in her statement too ldquoTo 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 thisrdquoFather Imran Mirza so very instrumental in producing this champion player couldnrsquot have been prouder ldquoShe had given enough indication that she will produce the desired results once she held a racquet She didnrsquot shirk away from hard work She was very focussedrsquorsquo Imran saysActor Salman Khan with Sania and her sister Anam at the launch of Mirzarsquos autobiography Ace Against Odds PicAshish RaneSaniarsquos 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 under14 and under16 tournaments in the north Mother Naseem says her daughter was always positive ldquoShe was never afraid to lose She exhibited her fighting qualities and flair within one month of picking up a racquetrsquorsquoImran recalled how they were influenced by Martina Hingisrsquos family at the start of Saniarsquos career ldquoAs a middleclass family we made a lot of sacrificesrdquo he remarks ldquoWe didnrsquot 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 thenrdquoMirza 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 PicAFPMirza Sr who played club cricket in Mumbai in his younger days drove his Maruti 800 for days to various parts of the country for Saniarsquos tournaments Indeed he had the sporting driveSania once told this journalist ldquoI used to play on courts made of cow dung There were no hard courts or anyone to practise with and none to benchmark myself againstrdquoShe grew in stature by becoming the first Indian woman to win the junior Wimbledon doubles with Russiarsquos Alisa Kleyanova in 2003 According to Imran that title breathed new confidence into herSania broke into the 200ranking barrier in 2004 and in the same year she became the first Indian woman to reach the third round of the Australian OpenVasudeva 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 saidNarendranath who trained Sania from 2013 to 2020 reckoned she gave a dimension to Indian womenrsquos tennis ldquoShe 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 pointrdquoEvery 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 ldquoUncle I won the doubles titlerdquo she exclaimed over the phone late that night I was delighted and overjoyedSlowly 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 playersSaniarsquos forte was the deadly forehand shots which she even exhibited in the Australian Open recently ldquoIt goes like a bulletrdquo says Imran ldquoWe 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 herrsquorsquoEven Hingis noticed it and made a mention of that strength in the Foreword to Saniarsquos autobiography Ace Against Odds ldquoShe has a merciless forehand and her wellplaced serve starts perfectly in each pointrdquo the great Swiss wrote ldquoWhere other people would break their bones she calmly produces a winner with an incredible flick of the wristrdquoSania was at her best when she partnered with Cara Black of Zimbabwe Hingis and BhupathiImran feels the Wimbledon Doubles crown in 2015 with Hingis brought her instant stardom ldquoFor merdquo he says ldquothe biggest satisfaction was winning the womenrsquos Wimbledon doubles crown in 2015 She didnrsquot realise how big she became after that winldquoThe years from 2014 to 2016 were the best phase as she finished No1 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 61 60ldquoShe won two yearend WTA championship titles No Indian has won this titlemdashneither Bhupathi nor Paes She won it in 2014 with Black and 2015 with Hingis The yearend WTA title is of special significance as the top eight best seeds play in this tournament unlike the Grand Slams You donrsquot get easy matches in Grand Slam tournaments it is a draw of 64 you get some easy matchesrdquoSania 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 Saniarsquos big regret was missing an Olympic medal because of the PaesBhupathi controversy although she won the Asian Games gold and silver medals with Hyderabad players Vishnu Vardhan and Saketh Sai MynenirsquorsquoThese two Hyderabad players helped Sania in her comeback journey after motherhoodldquoWe formed a Hyderabad WhatsApp grouprdquo says Vardhan ldquoWhenever 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 wasnrsquot The best part was after training we were treated to sumptuous biryani and chai at her housersquorsquoSania who won the WTA Hobart Trophy in 2021 with Nadiia Kichenok of Ukraine says of the period ldquoMy son was asleep when I won the winning point I couldnrsquot look at him as he was inside the playersrsquo 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 proudrdquoIzhaan watched his mother stretch every sinew while partnering Bopanna last week in Melbourne Itrsquos a memory that could well stay with him forever Just like Saniarsquos contribution to tennis stays in the golden pages of Indian tennis history