As six-year old I would have accepted my achievements with both hands: Sania Mirza

"If someone would have said this six-year-old girl that I was going to represent India for over 20 years. I would be winning so many grand slams, I would have been no. 1 for two years, would have played four Olympics for me I would have taken it with both hands. I have been very fortunate and I have a lot of gratitude to achieve so many of my dreams and more to be very honest. The time we picked up the tennis racquet at that time it was a distant dream from Hyderabad to dream of playing Wimbledon or winning Wimbledon. So, the fact that we were able to achieve that to win all the grand slam but this Wimbledon was very very special," said Sania Mirza while speaking to ANI.

Sania Mirza recently made her last appearance in grand slam when she partnered with Rohan Bopanna to play mixed doubles in Australian Open 2023 and went on to reach the final but unfortunately, the Indian pair fell at the final huddle losing to Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos of Brazil to finish runners-up. During the post-match presentation and trophy ceremony the former world no.1 became emotional and could not hold on to her tears.

"It was a very emotional moment for me because I was going through a lot of emotions for the last two weeks. My entire journey in professional tennis started at Australian Open when I played against Serena Williams in 2005. It was a whole circle of life for me so for me it was a very emotional moment for me. All those moments were very overwhelming for me so they were all happy tears," explained Sania Mirza.

Six-time grand slam champion Sania Mirza has partnered with many partners like Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna, Bruno Soares, and Elina Vesnina but her favourite partner is Martina Hingis with whom she won three grand slam titles.

"All the partners with whom I have played have been special whether I have won or not. I share a special bond with them but I would say probably Martina Hingis not only going by the very fact of the result but also the moments and emotions we shared together. I would say that Martina is that very special partner, " said Sania Mirza.

Before partnering with Sania Mirza Swiss star Hingis was a star winning five women's singles grand slams. The Swiss star won three slams with Sania and the pair won Wimbledon and US Open in 2015 and Australian Open in 2016.

"Not it was not like that because I and Martina played a lot of singles matches together. When she made a comeback for the second time. We respected each other's game and we respect each other as tennis players. Any partnership does not have one better player or one worse player. Any partnership has to have two people who are hiding each others' weaknesses and consolidating each others' game. We both really enjoyed ourselves on the court. She is a great champion and it was a lot of fun to play with her, and in some moments it was amazing to see these champions on how they are solving problems you also need to learn from that and vice-versa we used to learn and feed off also, " said Sania Mirza. (ANI)