“When I look back I have no regrets and for me one of the biggest achievements is when I came back after having my son, to have won that tournament was something that was special”, Sania Mirza on her career journey post motherhood
New Delhi, July 23, 2021: In an exclusive interview to CNN News18 anchor Shivani Gupta, Sania Mirza talked about her journey of becoming a mother and sharing her successful career journey along with preparations for Tokyo Olympics 2021.
Shivani Gupta: You are equaling the record for the most Olympics by any Indian female athlete. In your very long list of lots of firsts and lots of records, where does this stand?
Sania Mirza: It’s right up there. Definitely up there. I think that if somebody told me at the last Olympics, I think you did speak to me, if I was going to be at another Olympics my answer was no. It would have been no. To put myself in this position again, I am very grateful but I am also very proud of myself, to be honest, to get back to being fit enough to compete at the highest level. And to be here as a mother, is extremely special.
Shivani Gupta: We have been witnessing you with your son at the Wimbledon courts and taking some selfies and also doing a round. All of that must have been really special. Even though you won’t be able to do this at the Olympics given the nature of these games but that must have been special.
Sania Mirza: Yeah, It was. I think now he has reached a stage where he has started understanding where he says “Mumma is going for a match” or he says “Come on, Mumma”. It’s very cute but it is something I could have dreamt of to share these experiences with my son. I never thought I would play after I became a mother and so glad, that I am because I get to share this with him and he inspires me every day to become a better tennis player but also, to become a better person.
Shivani Gupta: When you look back at your journey which is now going to be 4 Olympics. When you look back today, I would like to ask you, what really stands out of your career?
Sania Mirza: I think it’s really difficult for me and it’s a good problem to have to tell you that I can’t really pick one. Whether it was winning girls junior Wimbledon or winning my first ever medal at the Asian games when I was 15 years old to go on winning 8 medals there at the Asian games including a couple of golds, a few silvers, to be able to compete at 4 Olympics, to be able to pick up number 1 in the world; It’s something that I could have only dreamt of and it’s a journey that I extremely humbled by and grateful for and when I look back I have no regrets and for me one of the biggest achievements is when I came back after having my son, to have won that tournament was something that was special. That wasn’t the biggest tournament that I had won, I have won bigger titles than that whether it was World Championships at the end of the year and being number 1 and staying there for that long but that tournament meant so much to me because it made me believe that I still had it in me and probably others as well because a lot of people didn’t believe it. I am very grateful for this journey that I have had and hopefully I can keep doing this as long as I can. I don’t really have a timeline but I am taking it day by day and I enjoy it and enjoy training and I enjoy grind, I enjoy the winning and funnily enough you enjoy losing sometimes because it is a part of who you are and it is a part of your job.
Shivani Gupta: So a lot of has happened even after your autobiography came out so I am wondering what more would you like to add to it? Certainly your pregnancy and coming back after that?
Sania Mirza: We used to joke about it that we might write a sequel to it. So maybe it’s in the calling. I think that was the right time to release my autobiography. There was so much happening at that time and I didn’t know I was going to take a break. After last Olympic, I was very sure I wanted to become a mother. But I didn’t know how was my body going to react or I would feel like playing tennis again or putting that hard work again. I am really glad that autobiography was written at the time that it was but if needed, we might have to write another one.
Shivani Gupta: What is the chapter on your motherhood going to be called? Can you tell me already?
Sania Mirza: I don’t know. Putting me on the spot, I have no idea. I am just joking but to me the chapter on my life of motherhood is the biggest, honestly like everything that I have done on one side and Izhaan on one side. It’s truly the most selfless kind of love that I have ever known and I honestly I didn’t think I had it in me. I wasn’t a very maternal person and for me, I surprised myself because it was the most natural way to be and it was most natural for me to want everything and more for this little human being than I wanted for anybody in the world including myself and it remains that way. Everything I have done in my career in my life on one side and Izhaan on one.
Shivani Gupta: Can I ask you what do you make of your partnership with Ankita? You have picked her, you have played a few matches with her for the country. What do you make of your chances?
Sania Mirza: I mean you know we are not going in as favorites, I am going to put it that ways. I mean we are going in because I had a top 10 ranking at the other three Olympics and at that time as well I chose whoever the best possible partner was. And this time it is Ankita. She is now regularly playing on the WTA tour which is really good and an advantage that we have she has seen the level that there is and she’s representing us in Grand slams which has never been the case in the last year or so in that case yes we are probably in the best position that we have been in the last of three Olympics. She’s young, she’s hungry, very disciplined and I think those are her big strengths but like I said we’re not the favorites to win. I mean we are going in against players who play together all the time and are number one teams in the world or number two teams in the world. These guys have been playing together for years and winning many Grand slams week after week and year after year. So we are going to go and give our best. I mean that’s the only thing in our control to give our best. Stranger things have happened, right?
Shivani Gupta: At the Olympics stage, especially in doubles doors, upsets can happen but I will ask you, you have played three Olympics and fans/spectators not being there at the stadium, do you think that’s an advantage in some sense or is actually detrimental because you don’t really have that feeling of the crowd behind you?
Sania Mirza: This is a lot about the crowds’ right I mean there’s so many people that actually travel from all over the world to just watch Olympics and I do think that it is going to be different for sure but having said that as athletes we have kind of become used to playing without the crowds since last year. I mean that’s how we are playing week after week. This year, Wimbledon was the first time that I have played with crowds so it’s not so alien to us anymore. It’s not that it’s nice to play without crowds or we don’t miss them but we are used to that now. I don’t know if that will be detrimental, I think when we are on the court we are really just thinking about the match and trying to win it. But yes when crowd is there it’s definitely more fun to play.
Shivani Gupta: Hasn’t some of this actually kept India away from actually winning a coveted medal in tennis? Would you look back at least and say that things could have been different if the best teams had always played?
Sania Mirza: Do I think that it’s because of that we didn’t win a medal then it’s a shame. That’s a shame on us that we weren’t able to separate that when we walked on the court because I don’t believe that when I walk on the court I don’t believe that it has anything to do with any external factors in my life whether it’s my child whether it is a feud whether it is you know unpleasantness off the court whether it’s you know the guys or whatever. As far as the guys are concerned we had kind of become used to living with the fact that you know certain people don’t get along so I mean it’s not something that was bothering us way too much. Would it be ideal not to have those things? A hundred percent, I mean it would be ideal for me not to feel like there was a sexism. Of course it would be ideal. It would be ideal that we didn’t have to deal with that. It would be ideal if me and Mahesh after winning a French open grand slam could have just played I mean of course but I don’t think that’s the reason we didn’t win a medal. We didn’t win a medal because at that point, we didn’t either play well enough or I mean Leandra and I for example when in London we lost to the eventual gold medal team which was Azarenka and Max Wendy so it did take the best team to beat us and Rohan and we were just unfortunate. It was unfortunate that we didn’t win last time but I don’t think that that has anything to do with it but I do think that it would have been great if it was avoided but it wasn’t so I think bygones are bygones now.
Shivani Gupta: Things have been very uncertain over the last couple of years and you’ve had a stop start a couple of times but when you plan for the next six months over the last next one year what is it that you have in mind that keeps you going?
Sania Mirza: Honestly I have very short-term goals I want to take it as it comes really because it’s very difficult in this kind of situation to think and decide and plan as to what’s going to happen next year in six months in eight months we don’t know what the situation is going to be with pandemic with the lockdowns right now my immediate goal is to go to Tokyo after that I’m supposed to go for the US swing which is in San José Cincinnati Cleveland and hopefully US open so that’s all really I’m looking forward to it would be I mean it would be crazily amazing if I could win another slam or a medal before I retire for good in the next year or two or whenever I’m going to retire it would be crazy amazing so I will try my best to do whatever I can and achieve whatever I can to the best of my abilities I do believe that I still have it in me to play at the highest level of the sport and that’s why I’m here and the day i stopped believing that I won’t be here anymore I won’t be playing anymore so I just want to take it one day at a time.
Shivani Gupta: It would be an icing on the cake as they say and we wish you all the best. Let’s hope that icing on the cake happens in Tokyo.
Corporate Comm India (CCI Newswire)
