Sania Mirza, the Indian tennis queen who announced her retirement from professional tennis earlier this month at the Dubai Tennis Championships, will receive a rousing send-off from Indian fans in her hometown of Hyderabad. Sania Mirza’s farewell will take place on March 5 at the Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad. Sania Mirza will participate in a handful of exhibition matches as part of the tournament. “I’m ready to play my last tennis match, exactly where it all started for me 18 or 20 years ago…and all my close friends, family and partner will come and I’ll be able to.” I don’t wait to play against you for the last time,” Sania Mirza was quoted as saying by the Olympic Games website.
“I look forward to ending this journey on a beautiful note, in front of my friends, family and most important of all, my most loyal fans and supporters who have been through it all with me on this journey,” he added.
Six-time tennis Grand Slam winner Sania Mirza will play two exhibition matches as part of her farewell. The first event will be a game of rounders between two teams made up of actors, cricketers and tennis players. One of the two teams will be led by Sania, while the other will be led by Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna.
The second will be a mixed doubles tennis match between Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna, and Ivan Dodig and Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Bopanna, Dodig and Sands have previously collaborated with Sania Mirza.
Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna have been longtime teammates and placed fourth in mixed doubles at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Earlier this year, the pair reached the final of the Australian Open, which was their last tennis star’s Grand Slam appearance.
Sania Mirza is undoubtedly the most successful tennis player from India. She won 44 WTA championships (43 in doubles and one in singles) during her glittering career that spanned nearly two decades, and she was also No. 1 in the WTA rankings for women’s doubles at the time.
Her most recent doubles victory came in 2021 at the Ostrava Open in the Czech Republic when she partnered Zhang Shuai of China.
Many celebrities including Bollywood and Tollywood stars are anticipated to be present as guests at Sania Mirza’s farewell gala.
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