Former India tennis star, Sania Mirza's journey in tennis has been every bit inspirational. The diva broke societal barriers and paved the way for future generations of female athletes in India to mark their place. Though Sania has taken retirement from sports, she continues to motivate many budding athletes and trains them at her Academy in Dubai. However, not many know that the diva once aspired to be a cricket player.
Sania Mirza once sat for a conversation with Veda Krishnamurthy on JioCinema and made a surprising revelation about her career. Talking about the same, she expressed that if she were a boy, she would have chosen cricket over tennis. The 36-year-old, who enjoys an illustrious career in tennis, shared her early sport preferences and revealed she wanted to play cricket. She said:
"Honestly speaking, and I know I shouldn't say this to you, but at that point of time, if I was a boy, I would probably be playing cricket. Playing sports was different, and honestly, I think because I was a girl, they were like, 'I don't think cricket is for girls.' But that's the way things were back then, 30 years ago."
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Despite facing societal expectations, Sania Mirza defied all odds and became the first Indian woman to win a WTA singles title in 2005. In the same interview, the diva reflected on her role models and revealed that 22-time Grand Slam champion, Steffi Graf, and track and field legend, PT Usha, inspired her. Mirza added:
"I had a role model in Steffi Graf because that was the only person. There was not really a woman athlete in our country outside of PT Usha that we could look up to growing up."
For the unversed, Sania Mirza had announced her retirement after her defeat in the first round of women's doubles at the Australian Open 2022. During a press conference, the gorgeousness revealed that her body is wearing off, and she feels it takes longer for her to recover after an injury. Sania had also shared that she is also putting her then-3-year-old son at a lot of risk by travelling with him and had said:
"There's a few reasons for it. It's not as simple as 'okay I'm not going to play'. I do feel my recovery is taking longer, I'm putting my 3-year-old son at risk by travelling so much with him, that's something I have to take into account. I think my body is wearing down. My knee was really hurting today and I'm not saying that's the reason we lost but I do think that it is taking time to recover as I'm getting older."
Sania Mirza tied the knot with Shoaib Malik in 2010, and the couple embraced parenthood with the arrival of their son, Izhaan Mirza Malik, in 2018. However, rumours about Shoaib and Sania having problems in their marriage and heading for divorce started pouring in 2022. Fast forward to now, on January 20, 2024, Shoaib announced his third wedding to Pakistani actress, Sana Javed, leaving the entire nation shocked.
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When Sania Mirza made an appearance on Koffee With Karan, she was happily married to Shoaib Malik. During the show, she revealed the key to their then-successful marriage and reportedly said that it was because they stayed quite far from one another. Sania also revealed that her father, Imran Mirza, once jokingly told her that he and Sania's mom had a successful marriage of 31 years because of his tennis career. Sania could be quoted as saying:
"I am! And we stay quite far from each other and that's the secret of our marriage. We travel so much. My dad always jokes that his 31-year marriage with my mum now is because of his tennis. He says our marriage is really strong because one of us is always travelling."
What are your views on Sania Mirza's desire to play cricket rather than tennis?
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