Sania Mirza announces her retirement from professional Tennis

Sania Mirza has confirmed her retirement from professional Tennis. The former doubles World No. 1 champion has announced that she will retire at the WTA 1000 event in Dubai in February.

Mirza spoke about her retirement in an interview with the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) website.

The 36-year-old will be playing in women’s doubles at the Australian Open in January alongside Kazakhstan’s Anna Danilina. This is her final appearance at a Grand Slam event after she missed the US Open last year due to an elbow injury.

Mirza, who has been dealing with a lingering calf injury, had planned to retire at the end of the 2022 season but an elbow injury in August ruled her out of the US Open.

“I really don’t have the capacity in my mind to emotionally push that much anymore. I turned pro in 2003...Priorities change, and now my priority is not to push my body to the limit every single day," she said to WTA.

After retirement, Mirza will focus on her academics in Dubai, the city of her residence for more than a decade, where she has resided for more than a decade with her husband, former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik.

Mirza, regarded as her country's greatest women's tennis player, has won six Grand Slam doubles titles and will compete in her final major this month at the Australian Open, where she bagged the women's doubles crown in 2016.

Mirza became the first Indian to win a WTA singles title, when she won her hometown Hyderabad event in 2005. She broke into the top 30 by 2007 and reached her career-high ranking of world number 27.

The maiden triumph came in 2009, as she partnered with Mahesh Bhupathi to clinch the Australian Open mixed doubles title.

She earned a second victory alongside Bhupati in the 2012 French Open.

Her third mixed doubles title victory was at the 2014 US Open, partnering with Brazilian player Bruno Soares.

In 2015 Sania Mirza partnered up with Swiss legend Martina Hingis and won three back-to-back Grand Slam doubles titles.