Sania Mirza, the Indian tennis superstar, praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday for his warm and encouraging comments after bidding an emotional farewell to the sport in her birthplace of Hyderabad at the site where it all began for her as a 16-year-old.
In a letter to Mirza, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that as India’s finest tennis player, she had left an indelible impression on Indian sports, motivating future generations of sportsmen.
“I would like to thank you Honorable Prime Minister @narendramodi Ji for such kind and inspiring words. I have always taken great pride in representing our country to the best of my ability and will continue to do whatever I can to make India proud. Thank you for your support,” tweeted Sania.
In his letter, the Prime Minister also described the tennis great as India’s pride, whose triumph has filled the hearts and minds of every Indian with delight.
“Tennis lovers will find it difficult to fathom that you will not be playing professionally from now onwards. But, through your career as one of India’s best tennis players, you have left an indelible mark on Indian sports, inspiring the coming generation of athletes. When you announced a “Life Update” on 13th January, you wonderfully expressed your journey from a six-year-old who had to literally fight her way to the courts to a world-class tennis player in the subsequent years. You wrote about how your biggest honour has been winning medals for India. I can say that you are India’s pride, whose success has filled the hearts and minds of every Indian with utmost joy,” read the PM’s letter.
PM Modi praised her early achievement as a junior player at Wimbledon, saying it showed she will be a force to be reckoned with.
“You gave the people of India much to cheer about. Your early success in Wimbledon as a junior player showed that you were going to be a force to reckon with. Likewise, your triumphs in subsequent Grand Slam tournaments, be it the Women’s Doubles or Mixed Doubles demonstrated your skill and passion for the game. That you won in so many Doubles events also shows your temperament towards teamwork, which is an essential learning of sports,” it read.
“Due to twists of fate, you had to cope with injuries, but these setbacks only strengthened your resolve and you overcame these challenges with flying colors,” it read further.
On Sunday, Mirza played two exhibition tennis matches at the Lal Bahadur Stadium, where she made her WTA debut in 2003. She was a wild-card entry in the Hyderabad Open. A year later, she won the doubles title with South African Liezel Huber at the same event.
It was Sania’s first of 44 WTA victories, 43 of which came in doubles play and only one in singles. Throughout a remarkable career spanning two decades, she also won six Grand Slam championships and competed in four Summer Olympics.
Sania had already announced her retirement from professional tennis following the Dubai Tennis Championships earlier this month. Sania competed in two exhibition matches against Indian men’s tennis star Rohan Bopanna, India’s 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup-winning all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, and American tennis player Bethanie Mettek Sands, her “best friend” and former doubles partner.
She triumphed in both of her matches, much to the pleasure of an ecstatic home audience.
Sania Mirza is without a doubt the most accomplished female tennis player in India.
Her most recent doubles triumph came in 2021 when she joined up with China’s Zhang Shuai at the Ostrava Open in the Czech Republic.
There were many children and kids in the audience shouting for her. Sania, 36, was joined by her son Izhaan Mirza Malik and became overwhelmed upon watching their reaction.
Former Federal Sports Minister and current Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, former Indian cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin, Bollywood actor Dulquer Salmaan, and prominent rapper MC Stan were among those who attended Sania Mirza’s goodbye in Hyderabad.
