Sania Mirza announces retirement: Here is a look at her golden Grand Slam career

The only Indian woman to ever win a tennis Grand Slam is Sania Mirza. Mirza made her senior debut in 2001 and advanced quickly to become one of India’s top singles tennis players. She failed to capture any Grand Slam titles in women’s singles, though. However, the Indian tennis ace found success in doubles. Sania Mirza won six Grand Slam doubles championships from 2009 to 2016—three in women’s doubles and three in mixed doubles. She even rose to the top of the women’s doubles rankings in 2015. Martina Hingins was Sania’s most successful doubles partner; the two of them have won back-to-back grand slams in the mixed doubles division, including the Australian Open, US Open, and Wimbledon.

Sania also had a good run with Mahesh Bhupathi, with whom she captured two Grand Slams—the French Open in 2012 and her first Grand Slam, the Australian Open, in 2009. Sania and Bruno Soares shared a 2014 US Open victory. In the Australian Open 2023 mixed doubles final, Sania Mirza played her final Grand Slam match alongside Rohan Bopanna.

Sania Mirza’s Grand Slam triumphs

Sania completed her Grand Slam career with three women’s doubles titles and the same number in mixed doubles. Prior to the competition in Melbourne, the star athlete had declared that this would be her final Grand Slam appearance. She will compete in two more tournaments in the United Arab Emirates before retiring. In February, Sania will compete in Abu Dhabi alongside Bethanie Mattek Sands and then wrap things up at Dubai, a WTA 1000 tournament, alongside Madison Keys.

2009: First taste of Grand Slam silverware

Sania Mirza won her first Grand Slam championship in the mixed doubles event at the 2009 Australian Open with Mahesh Bhupathi. It was 1992, and Sania was 26. Up until their quarterfinal match against Aleksandra Wozniak and Daniel Nestor of Canada, the Indian tennis team did not lose a set. To win the championship, Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi defeated Israel’s Andy Ram and France’s Nathalie Dechy 6-3, 6-1.

2012: Success on clay

In the mixed doubles event at the 2012 French Open, Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi also won a major championship. Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi, who were seeded seventh at Roland Garros, breezed through the competition without dropping a set. To win their second Grand Slam, the Indian team defeated the Polish-Mexican team of Klaudia Jans-Ignacik and Santiago Gonzalez 7-6, 6-1, in the championship match.

2014: Winning on American soil

The 2014 US Open was where Brazilian Bruno Soares and Sania Mirza won their third Grand Slam mixed doubles championship. The tournament’s top seeds were the two. The Indo-Mexican team won the competition on a tie-breaker over the United States’ Abigail Spears and Mexico’s Santiago Gonzalez.

2015: Triumph at Wimbledon, first women’s doubles title

At the 2015 Wimbledon, Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis, also known as Santina, were seeded first and second, respectively. On their way to the championship, the team lost no sets at all. Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina were defeated by Mirza-Hingis in the summit match 5-7, 7(7)-6(4), 7-5. Mirza was thus the first Indian to triumph in a major women’s doubles tournament.

2015: Two Grand Slams in one year

Santina’s outstanding performance carried over to the following Grand Slam in 2015, where the pair won the US Open without dropping a set. Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis, the top seeds, won the title at Flushing Meadows by defeating Casey Dellacqua of Australia and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-3 in the final.

2016: Three straight Grand Slam wins

In 2016, at the Australian Open, Sania Mirza captured her final Grand Slam. With Hingis, she had won three straight major championships. The top-seeded Indo-American team defeated Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic 7(7)-6(1), 6-3, to claim the championship in Melbourne.