ISLAMABAD: Former Wimbledon doubles champion Sania Mirza, one of India’s most celebrated sports stars, has announced she will retire from tennis after 2022.<\/p>\n
Mirza’s comments came after her first-round loss in women’s doubles in the Australian Open, reports said.<\/p>\n
“I’ve decided that this will be my last season. I’m taking it week by week. Not sure if I can last the season, but I want to,” she was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n
Mirza, 35, was the first Indian to win a WTA singles title in 2005.<\/p>\n
Indian star Mirza aims to inspire<\/strong><\/p>\n But injury soon forced her to concentrate on doubles – in 2015 she won the Wimbledon with Swiss player Martina Hingis, then went on to win the US and Australian Opens.<\/p>\n She came close to securing an Olympics Medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics when she and Rohan Bopanna played the semi-finals against Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram, but eventually lost.<\/p>\n Mirza and Martina Hingis won the Wimbledon doubles title in 2015\u00a9 Getty Images Mirza and Martina Hingis won the Wimbledon doubles title in 2015<\/p>\n She has also won two Grand Slam titles with partner Mahesh Bhupathi – the 2009 Australian Open mixed doubles title and the French Open 2012 mixed doubles.<\/p>\n Mirza started playing tennis as a teenager during summer holidays, but began taking it seriously after she began winning adult tournaments – she picked up her first senior title aged 15 at the 2002 Asian Games.<\/p>\n She entered the WTA Tour in 2003 and later reached a career-high singles ranking of 27 in the world, still the highest by an Indian woman.<\/p>\n Mirza also received plenty of attention for her life outside tennis – including for her marriage to former Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik. The couple have a three-year-old son.<\/p>\n New mum Mirza to return to tennis<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2019, she returned to competitive tennis after a two-year maternity break.<\/p>\n With almost 25m followers combined on her Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, Mirza is one of the best-known sportswomen in India.<\/p>\n She has been credited with inspiring young women to play tennis in a cricket-obsessed country.<\/p>\n She also regularly made headlines for her strong responses to being trolled over issues such as the choice of her partner to the outfits she wore.<\/p>\n