DUBAI: Indian icon Sania Mirza will bow out of professional tennis the same way she entered it – doing things on her own terms and in her own way.
The former doubles world No.1 will contest the final tournament of her career in Dubai this week then she teams up with Madison Keys for one last hurrah.
A true trailblazer for Indian athletes, Mirza took an unusual path when she ventured into tennis as a young girl more than two decades ago and she never wavered even in the face of, at times, severe scrutiny.
Six Grand Slam doubles and mixed doubles titles later, Mirza has battled back from an torn elbow tendon suffered last summer so that she can retire on the court at what she considers her home tournament here in Dubai.
The 36-year-old will play her opening round at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium for one last time alongside Keys against Veronika Kudermetova and Liudmila Samsonova on Monday, as she gets ready to bid farewell to the sport.
Never one to walk away without making an impression, Mirza reached the mixed doubles final with her friend and compatriot Rohan Bopanna at the Australian Open in January, her last Grand Slam appearance. She returned to Dubai with a runners-up medal.
“I’m really happy to be very honest because I’m very excited for the next phase of my life and what it has in store for me,” Mirza told Arab News on the eve of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
“I’m sure I’ll get emotional just as I did in Australia at the end of the tournament, but more, I’m just feeling a lot of gratitude.
“I feel very grateful for everything I’ve been able to do, the way that I’ve been able to do it, and alhamdulillah it’s been a dream for me to play in a Grand Slam final and say goodbye at one of my favorite Slams and to come here in Dubai and play here, which has always been a home away from home.”
Mirza could have called time when she got injured last August, but she opted for the tougher route – the only route a champion like her could ever choose – and got herself back in shape to compete once again and say goodbye on the tennis court.
“It means so much. I could have had the easier path, which would have been to be like, ‘Okay, I tore my entire tendon in my elbow’, and it would have been easier just to say, ‘Why do I need to put those two, three months of work in and rehab and come back?’” explained Mirza, who is a mother to four-year-old boy Izhaan.
“But it meant that much to me to come and try and retire here because Dubai Open has not just given me so many memories, but it’s also been really special in terms of the things I’ve been able to do; the way it’s always welcomed me, not just as a tournament but also as a city.
“It’s become home for me over the last few years, my son goes to school here. There is no better place I could think of to retire – obviously home in India but outside of that, if there’s any other country I would love to retire, it would be here.”
At the draw ceremony on Saturday, Mirza was spotted joking with Dubai tournament director Salah Tahlak telling him she probably needed “200 tickets” for all the friends and family members coming to support her.
“It’s obviously so emotional for everybody because I think in some way everybody’s played their part in this journey of 20 years. Tennis is one of the biggest team sports, it’s not something that happens individually so I’m so glad that everybody that’s been part of my life is able to come,” said Mirza.
Mirza made her Dubai singles debut back in 2005 when she was ranked 97 in the world. She reached the quarter-finals that year and shocked world No.7 Svetlana Kuznetsova on the way.
“The stadium was packed and that was my first time ever playing in those kinds of stadiums outside of India,” she recalls. “I’ve had some amazing matches here, I’ve been able to win this tournament in doubles, I’ve played well here in singles, but more than anything, for a long time we didn’t have a tournament back in India and this was the tournament that I looked forward to as a home tournament.”
She won the doubles event in Dubai in 2013 alongside Bethanie Mattek-Sands and will be making her 20th appearance at the tournament this week.
One could write an entire book about Mirza’s legacy, but here’s what she said when she was asked about how she would like to be remembered in the sport.
“I would obviously like to be remembered as someone who was (ground) breaking … who wanted to achieve things that were outside of the box, and was able to do so,” she said.
“Obviously for being No.1 and winning Slams and all that stuff. But I think I would also like to be remembered just for the fact that I was someone who tried to stand up for the right and tried to stay as authentic as possible in the public eye, which is a very difficult thing to do.
“And until today I try to do that, because I feel that’s the only way I can be true to myself. And I feel that’s a very important part of who I am and I feel if you do that, you really can be the best version of yourself on and off the court.
“I would like to be remembered for all the other things that happened on the court, but off the court as well, I feel like we’re all here for a bigger purpose than just to hit tennis balls and I hope people remember that I tried to, and I’m going to continue to try, and say and do the right things.”
