Sania Mirza back at Wimbledon; says she doesn’t miss the practice sessions but the competition

Sania Mirza might have stepped out of the tennis court after announcing her retirement earlier this year, but the sport refuses to her go. The former tennis ace has returned to the ongoing 2023 Wimbledon Championships, albeit as a commentator. While she misses the thrill of competing, she is happy to explore new in her career.

Before her stint at Wimbledon, she made her debut as a commentator during the IPL 2023 tournament earlier this year.

“Being a commentator has been a lot of fun. I love doing new things, experiencing and learning new things from. For me, my journey as a commentator has been a nice learning process and a lot of fun since (it started with) cricket which has been such a big part of my life,” she tells us.

Talking about her life after retirement, the 36-year-old shares, “I have actually been really busy after retirement, doing multiple things”.

“I don’t miss the practice and the hours that go with it, but I miss the competition. I miss the feeling of walking into big courts and winning. I do miss that. My life has changed, the routine in my life has changed in many ways as I am trying to do new things. I am learning new stuff with it, and the whole process is very different and similar at the same time. Like I still try to do things with discipline because that is one thing that I have learnt and embraced with the journey that I have had. It (the retirement) has not fully hit me yet. Maybe because it has just been a couple of months, and I have been super busy since then,” says Mirza, who has won six tennis Grand Slam titles – three in women’s doubles and three in mixed doubles.

She might be busy, but the sports icon is ensuring that she spends more time with her son, Izhaan, and make up for the lost years.

“It has been 25 years of travel, of always being on the road, and it has been very hard. At the moment too, I am travelling quite a lot, but having said that, it is very special to spend more quality time with my son and that is something which was one of the reasons for me to stop playing and a conscious one so that I could spend more time with him. It feels really special to be able to have that bond with him now,” she says.

Wrapping up, she wraps up with a hope to see more tennis players from India making a mark globally. “When it comes to the sports field, we are headed in the right direction… We still have some ways to go, like in tennis, now that I have retired, I am hopeful that we can have more contenders in Grand Slams again,” she concludes.