Former Wimbledon doubles champion Sania Mirza, one of India’s most celebrated sports stars, has announced she will retire from tennis after 2022.
Mirza’s comments came after her first-round loss in the women’s doubles in the Australian Open, reports said.
“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 told reporters.
Mirza, 35, became the first Indian to win a WTA singles title in 2005.
But injury soon forced her to concentrate on doubles – in 2015 she won at Wimbledon with Swiss player Martina Hingis, then went on to win the US and Australian Opens.
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.
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.
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.