{"id":112624,"date":"2023-01-28T10:12:25","date_gmt":"2023-01-28T05:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tns.world\/?p=112624"},"modified":"2023-01-28T10:12:25","modified_gmt":"2023-01-28T05:12:25","slug":"indian-trailblazer-sania-mirza-bows-out-of-grand-slam-tennis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tns.world\/?p=112624","title":{"rendered":"Indian trailblazer Sania Mirza bows out of Grand Slam tennis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Indian trailblazer Sania Mirza bowed out of Grand Slam tennis Friday with defeat in the Australian Open mixed-doubles final playing alongside Rohan Bopanna \u2014 her first playing partner 22 years ago.<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old Mirza, regarded as her country\u2019s greatest women\u2019s tennis player, returned to Melbourne Park for one last hurrah and made it all the way to the decider.<\/p>\n

But she and 42-year-old Bopanna were unable to get over the line, losing 7-6 (7\/2), 6-2 to Brazilian pair Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos.<\/p>\n

Mirza was in tears in the post-match presentation ceremony.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\"<\/picture><\/div>
(L-R) Brazil\u2019s Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos pose with the trophy after their victory against India\u2019s Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna during the mixed doubles final on day twelve of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on Friday. \u2014 AFP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cRohan was my first-ever mixed-doubles partner at (aged) 14 and we won the nationals,\u201d said Mirza, a six-time Grand Slam champion, three in doubles and three in mixed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a long time ago, 22 years ago, and I couldn\u2019t think of a better person \u2014 he\u2019s one of my best friends and best partners \u2014 to finish my career here and to play the final.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no better place for me, or person for me, to finish my Grand Slam career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mirza, who is\u00a0married<\/a>\u00a0to former Pakistan team captain Shoaib Malik, has a young son Izhaan and said it was incredible to play in front of him in a major final.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\"<\/picture><\/div>
Sania Mirza (L) and Rohan Bopanna hug during the awards ceremony after their defeat against Brazil\u2019s Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos during the mixed doubles final on day twelve of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on Friday. \u2014 AFP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI never thought that I would be able to play in front of my child in a Grand Slam final, so it\u2019s truly special to have my four-year-old and my parents here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Mirza, known as a feisty convention-breaker, was the first Indian to win a WTA singles title, in 2005 at her hometown Hyderabad.<\/p>\n

She reached the fourth round of the US Open the same year and by 2007 was among the women\u2019s top 30.<\/p>\n

But a wrist injury caused her to concentrate on doubles, forging a partnership with Swiss great Martina Hingis which produced three Grand Slam titles.<\/p>\n

She is due to retire from all tennis after a tournament next month in Dubai, where she has lived for more than a decade and recently launched a tennis academy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Indian trailblazer Sania Mirza bowed out of Grand Slam tennis Friday with defeat in the Australian Open mixed-doubles final playing alongside Rohan Bopanna \u2014 her first playing partner 22 years ago. The 36-year-old Mirza, regarded as her country\u2019s greatest women\u2019s tennis player, returned to Melbourne Park for one last hurrah and made it all the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":112625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=112624"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112626,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112624\/revisions\/112626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/112625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=112624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=112624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tns.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=112624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}