Hyderabad: Tennis star Sania Mirza has announced that she will return to competitive tennis at the Hobart International to be played in Hobart, Australia. Hence she will be returning to courts a little over two years during which she had taken a maternity break.
The Hobart International tennis tournament will be played January 11-18 and the 33-year-old Sania has already started training for it. Sania, who last played at the China Open in October 2017, will team up with Ukraine’s Nadiia Kichenok – ranked No. 38 in the WTA doubles chart.
Sania, who married former Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik, gave birth to her first child – a son whom the couple named Izhaan.
“I am playing in Hobart, then I am playing the Australian Open,” Mirza stated. “I am planning to play a tournament in Mumbai, which is a $25,000 (ITF women’s event) next month, but I am 50-50 about it, so let’s see how my wrist behaves. We will see, but Hobart and Australian Open I will be there (for sure),” added Sania who has won six Grand Slam doubles and mixed doubles titles so far.
Meanwhile Sania has been the first to admit that she had experienced ‘a lot of change’ after having a baby.
“Your routine and sleep pattern changes. I (now) feel fit, my body is where it used to be before I had the baby,” Sania informed.
Sania, regarded as India’s best-ever women’s tennis player, will partner American Rajeev Ram for the mixed doubles at the Australian Open.
It should be stated here that Sania in 2005 became the first Indian to win a WTA tournament singles title. She reached the fourth round of the US Open in the same year, and by 2007 was among the women’s top 30.
But a wrist injury ended her singles dream and she focused on doubles tennis. A partnership with Swiss great Martina Hingis produced three Grand Slam titles
Agencies
