Sania Mirza Height, Age, Husband, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Sania Mirza

• Does Sania Mirza smoke?: No

• Does Sania Mirza drink alcohol?: No

• Sania Mirza was born into a Hyderabadi Muslim Family in Bombay ( now, Mumbai).
  

  The Infant Sania Mirza In Her Mother’s Lap

• The Mirza Family had migrated to the US in 1990 and returned within two years.

• In an interview, Sania’s father, Imran Mirza, who had also played tennis in his college days, revealed that they were more of a cricketing family, where everyone had played cricket at some level at some point in their lives.

• Sania’s father has been a sports journalist who also ran a sports magazine called “Sports Call” in Hyderabad.
  

  Sania Mirza’s Father Reading The Sports Magazine Sports Call

• Therefater, her father ventured into the printing press business and finally became a builder.

• Sania grew up in Hyderabad along with her younger sister Anam.
  

  Sania Mirza With Her Younger Sister Anam In Their Childhood

• She passed her SSC examination with first division; securing 63% marks from Nasr School Khairatabad.
  

  Sania Mirza In Her Childhood

• It was her father, Imran Mirza, who had drawn Sania to Lawn Tennis, and she started playing Tennis at the tender age of six at Nizam Club Hyderabad.

• Sania received her initial training in tennis by CK Bhupathi, father of Mahesh Bhupathi.

• When her father was unable to bear the expenses of her training, he approached some business houses for help; thereafter, GVK industries and Adidas started to sponsor her from the age of 12 years.

• Later on, Sania’s father took over as her coach and started grooming her to make her a player of international level.
  

  Imran Mirza Working With Sania On Court

• After learning the professional tennis at Sinnet Tennis Academy in Secunderabad, Sania moved to the Ace Tennis Academy in the United States.

• She won 10 singles and 13 doubles titles as a junior player.
  

  Sania Mirza In Her Childhood

• Partnering Alisa Kleybanova, Sania Won the 2003 Wimbledon Championships Girls’ Doubles title.
  

  Sania Mirza With Alisa Kleybanova

• She went on to reach the semifinals of the 2003 US Open Girls’ Doubles and the quarterfinals of the 2002 US Open Girls’ Doubles.

• On the senior circuit, the 15-year-old Sania had some significant wins such as in Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune, and in Manila, Philippines.

• However, when she was given a wild card entry at the AP Tourism Hyderabad Open; her first ever WTA tournament, she lost to Australia’s Evie Dominikovic.

• Her first taste of success at the international level was when she partnered Leander Paes to win a bronze medal in the mixed doubles event of the 2002 Asian Games in Busan.
  

  Sania Mirza With Leander Paes

• Thereafter, Sania Mirza went on to pick up four gold medals at the 2003 Afro-Asian Games in Hyderabad.

• Sania won her first WTA doubles title the 2004 AP Tourism Hyderabad Open, partnering Liezel Huber.
  

  Sania Mirza Greeting Liezel Huber

• On the ITF Circuit, Sania won six ITF singles titles in 2004.

• In the 2005 Australian Open, she reached the third round after beating Cindy Watson and Petra Mandula in the first and second rounds, respectively. However, in the third round, she was beaten in straight sets by Serena Williams.
  

  Sania Mirza And Serena Williams

• When Sania defeated the ninth-seeded Alona Bondarenko in the final of the AP Tourism Hyderabad Open in February 2005, she became the first-ever Indian woman to win a WTA title.
  

  Sania Mirza Celebrating Her Win Over Alona Bondarenko

• In the same year, she became the first Indian woman to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament at the US Open.

• After a successful 2005 season, Sania Mirza was named the WTA Newcomer of the Year.
  

  Sania Mirza wins the WTA Newcomer of the year award

• When Sania was seeded at the 2006 Australian Open, she became the first female Indian to be seeded in a grand slam event.

• At the 2006 Doha Asian Games, Mirza picked three medals- gold, in mixed doubles and silver in women’s singles and team.
  

  Sania Mirza At The Doha Asian Games

• In the same year, Sania had three top-ten wins against Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova and Martina Hingis.

• The year 2007, proved to be a successful year for Sania; as she reached her highest singles ranking of world No. 27 in the same year. The same year, she also won four doubles titles.

• Mirza represented India at the 2008 Summer Olympics. However, she was eliminated from singles after having a right wrist injury. The injury also caused her to withdraw from several other matches including those of the French Open and US Open Grand Slams.
  

  Sania Mirza During The Opening Ceremony Of The 2008 Beijing Olympics

• At the 2010 Asian Games, Mirza won Bronze Medal in singles and a Silver in mixed doubles, partnering India’s Vishnu Vardhan.
  

  Sania Mirza With Vishnu Vardhan At The 2010 Asian Games

• In the 2011 French Open, Mirza had probably the greatest highlight of her career- reaching the finals of a Grand Slam.
  

  Sania Mirza At The 2011 French Open

• Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi won the French Open Mixed Doubles Crown on 7 June 2012.
  

  Sania Mirza And Mahesh Bhupathi After Winning The 2012 French Open In Mixed Doubles

• In 2014, the Telangana Government appointed Sania Mirza as the brand ambassador of the state.
  

  Sania Mirza As The Brand Ambassador Of The Telangana State

• In the same year, she became the first South Asian woman to be appointed as a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia.
  

  Sania Mirza As The UN Ambassador

• In 2015, Sania Mirza paired up with Swiss legend Martina Hingis. The duo went on to have many significant wins including the Family Circle Cup, a victory that made history; making Mirza the first Indian to be ranked world No. 1 in WTA’s doubles rankings. On her win, Sania said-
  

  It’s a dream for every kid to be No. 1 one day.”

  

  Sania Mirza Celebrating Her No.1 WTA Ranking With Martina Hingis

• At the 2015 Wimbledon Championships, Mirza won her maiden women’s doubles Grand Slam with Hingis.

• In August 2016, the duo of Hingis and Mirza announced their mutual decision to split as a team. However, both are still good friends.
  

  Sania Mirza Having A Fun Time With Martina Hingis

• After her split with Hingis, Mirza struggled to find a committed partner.

• In 2016, the Time Magazine named Mirza on the list of 100 most influential people in the world.
  

  Sania Mirza On The Cover Of Time Magazine

• In July 2016, Sania Mirza published an autobiography titled “Ace Against Odds.”
  

  Sania Mirza At The Launch Of Her Autobiography Ace Against Odds

• Due to a knee injury, Mirza missed the first few tournaments of the 2018 season.
  

  Sania Mirza Struggling With Her Knee Injury

• In April 2018, Sania Mirza announced on her Instagram account that she was pregnant with her first child, with husband Shoaib Malik.
  

  Sania Mirza Showing Her Baby Bumps

• In October 2018, she gave birth to a baby boy and named him Izhaan.

• In 2010, Google trends said that Sania Mirza was the most searched Indian sportsperson that year.

• On 18 January 2020, Sania made a comeback and won her 42nd WTA doubles title at the Hobart International after taking a break from tennis after the China Open in October 2017 and giving birth to her son a year later.

• In July 2021, the UAE officially granted her the Dubai Golden Visa, making her the third Indian to get this visa after Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan and Sanjay Dutt. The visa grants Sania and her husband, Shoaib Malik, a 10-year-long residency in the UAE. ^[5]The Times of India

• On 19 January 2022, she announced that she will retire at the end of the 2022 season as her physique was ‘wearing down,’ and she was not getting the required motivation and energy; the announcement came after she lost the Australian Open women’s doubles first round with partner Nadiia Kichenok. ^[6]The Hindu At the post-match press conference, Mirza said,
  

  My body is wearing down. My knee was really hurting today and I’m not saying that’s the reason we lost but I do think that it is taking time to recover as I’m getting older. Also for me to find that motivation everyday to come out, the energy is not the same anymore. Right this minute, it’s there but there are days where I don’t feel like doing that. I’ve always said that I will play until I enjoy that grind, the process and not just winning but you have to enjoy the process and I am not sure I’m enjoying it anymore.”

• Sania Mirza’s appearance at Wimbledon ended in a semi-final defeat to defending champions Neal Skupski and Desirae Krawczyk in the mixed doubles event on 6 July 2022; Mirza and her Croatian partner Mate Pavic, seeded sixth, went down 6-4 5-7 4-6 to Skupski of Great Britain and American Krawczyk in two hours 16 minutes. ^[7]The Times of India

• Ahead of Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2023, Sania Mirza was appointed RCB’s team mentor. Her appointment raised a few eyebrows as she didn’t have experience in cricket. In an interview, Sania talked about the logic behind her induction as a mentor into the team and said,
  

  They said I would be working with young girls. Young girls, who are probably for the first time facing this kind of spotlight with the kind of money riding on them, the kind of pressure. A lot of the girls haven’t really faced that ever. I have faced that for the last 20 years of my life and they were like ‘we just want you to help them cope with that’. That was such a brilliant idea for me as well.” ^[8]Hindustan Times

• In January 2024, reports emerged that Shoaib cheated on Sania, based on claims by Pakistani journalist Naeem Hanif. Hanif, during a show, stated that Shoaib was dating Sana while he was still married to Sania, and they continued their relationship for three years before marrying in 2024. ^[9]The Economic Times