India’s Sania Mirza continues to reiterate that she was too injured to continue both a singles and doubles career. Mirza reached a career high No. 27 in 2006 but then began to be plagued by knee and wrist injuries and by mid-2012 had stopped playing singles. She has become standout doubles (and mixed) player winning 19 titles overall.
“Playing both formats of the game, I was playing close to 10 matches a week,” said Mirza who added that her best days aren’t behind her. “There comes a point when your body can’t take it anymore and it just collapses. After my third injury, I was faced with a tough choice: either play both formats of the game and quit after one year, or give up one and play longer. I love tennis too much to just give it up after a year. That’s why I stopped playing singles. I miss singles. But I’ve been winning a lot in doubles and after all, winning is what we play for.”
There were times in the gregarious 27-year-old’s life when she found it difficult to continue. After her third wrist surgery, she could not even lift up her hand to comb her hair.
“We end up thinking that we are healthy and that we are invincible and nothing can happen to us,” she said in an appearance for one of her sponsors, Rado. But then there comes a point where you can’t even eat on your own. That was, without doubt, the toughest point in my career.”
A popular and influential figure in India, Mirza is married to Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik. The two don’t see each other nearly enough as they are both on the road a lot of have conflicting schedules.
“At this point, both of us realize that our priorities are our careers,” she said. “We do have a place in Dubai but I’ve been spending a lot of time at my Sania Mirza Tennis Academy in India when he was on his SA tour. And now after his injury he’s in Pakistan playing some domestic cricket. It’s like we usually meet while we’re on the road. Sometimes it feels like we are still dating.”
Mirza was playing doubles with her close friend Bethanie Mattek-Sands this year until the American decided to focus on singles. But the Indian ended the year playing with former No. 1 Cara Back and they had good results, winning Tokyo and Beijing. They will play together again in 2014.
Topics: 10sballs, BETHANIE Mattek-Sands, Cara Back, Sania Mirza, Shoaib Malik, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News
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