Indian Tennis star Sania Mirza who announced she will retire after the Dubai Open in February this year penned down an emotional message ahead of her last career Grand Slam the Australia open. Incidentally the Australian Open was also Sania's debut slam event where defeated Cindy Watson and Petra Mandula in the first and second rounds respectively, to reach the third round where she was beaten in straight sets by eventual champion Serena William.
Fight for my dream began at 6
The 36-year-old wrote, “Thirty (yes, 30!) years ago a 6 year old girl from Nasr School in Hyderabad, walked on to a tennis court at Nizam Club with her young mom and fought the coach to let her learn how to play tennis as he thought that she was too little. The fight for our dreams began at 6!”
She added, “My Grand Slam journey started with the Australian Open back in 2005. So, it goes without saying that this would be the most perfect Grand Slam to end my career with.
We dared to dream
Mirza's success on the WTA circuit headlined another genertaion of players both male and female to pick up a racket and play tennis.
"With a lot of hope despite all the odds stacked against us, we dared to dream of playing in a Grand Slam someday and of representing our country with honour at the highest level in sport" she added in her post.
Mirza went on to win six Grand Slams and two Tour Finals in doubles and mixed doubles events. In 2005 she became the first Indian to be ranked number one in WTA double's ranking as she had a breakthrough year with Swiss great Martina Hingis.
