Former doubles world No 1 Sania Mirza has just concluded the final tournament of her career. Mirza, 36, exited the Dubai doubles event after she and her doubles partner Madison Keys suffered a 6-4 6-0 loss to Veronika Kudermetova and Liudmila Samsonova in their doubles opener.
Mirza, a six-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, picked the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships as the place where she wanted to end her career. Mirza, who turned pro in 2003, won one WTA title in singles and her career-high ranking saw her ranked as high as No 27 in singles.
In doubles, Mirza enjoyed far more success as she lifted 43 titles in women’s doubles – three of those 43 titles came on the Grand Slam level. Mirza also enjoyed success in mixed doubles, winning three Grand Slam titles in the competition.
Mirza nearly won the Australian Open in her final Grand Slam
Mirza decided the Australian Open to be the final Grand Slam tournament of her career. In the Australian Open women’s doubles event, Mirza didn’t enjoy a deep run as she Anna Danilina suffered a second-round loss.
But in the mixed doubles, Mirza nearly won the title as she and fellow Indian Rohan Bopanna made the final before suffering a 7-6 (2) 6-2 loss to Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos. Even though Mirza didn’t cap off her final Grand Slam run with a title, she wasn’t disappointed.
“For me, whether I win six Grand Slams or seven Grand Slams, that wasn’t going to change much in my life, right? Sure, on the record books maybe another Slam, but for me, it’s more important how I’m doing it. Today I’m here, sitting after a Grand Slam final, knowing that I still have the level to make it to a Grand Slam final.
I’m choosing to say that I want other things, and that is very important for me. I feel like after you have a child, especially, winning and losing tennis matches, it really puts things into perspective of how small or big that is,” Mirza said after the Australian Open mixed doubles final.
