Sania Mirza born 15 November 1986, in Bombay is a professional Indian tennis player, well known for her powerful forehand ground strokes. She is the current Indian No.1 in both singles and doubles and has held this position since 2003. In her career, Mirza has notable wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vera Zvonareva, Marion Bartoli; former World No. 1s Martina Hingis and Dinara Safina; and current World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka.
Mirza is the highest ranked female tennis player ever from India, with a career high ranking of 27 in singles and 7 in doubles. She is the first Indian female player to surpass US$1m in career earnings; first Indian to win a WTA Tour title of any kind; and, by winning the 2009 Australian Open – Mixed Doubles Event, became the third Indian, male or female, to win a Grand Slam title (the first two being Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes). Mirza has also won the 2012 French Open – Mixed Doubles Event (her second Grand Slam title).
Mirza was named one of the '50 heroes of Asia' by Time in October 2005. In March 2010, The Economic Times named Mirza in the list of the "33 women who made India proud".
Sania was born into a Muslim family to Imran Mirza, a sports journalist, and his wife Naseema in Mumbai, Maharashtra. She and younger sister Anam were brought up in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh in a religious family. Mirza began playing tennis at the age of six, turning professional in 2003. She was trained by her father. She attended NASR school in Hyderabad and later graduated from St. Mary's.
In 2009, Sania Mirza became engaged to childhood friend Sohrab Mirza. However the engagement was called off shortly after. Then, she dated Faizan Udyawar, who is a multimillionaire businessman, for six months. Since she wanted to marry a sportsperson, she started seeing Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik. On 12 April 2010, she married Shoaib Malik in an Islamic wedding ceremony at the Taj Krishna Hotel in Hyderabad, India followed by Pakistani wedding customs for a mahr of INR61 lakh (US$137,500). Their Walima ceremony was held in Lahore, Pakistan. The online attention the wedding received made Mirza the most searched woman tennis player and most searched Indian sportsperson in 2010 according to Google Trends. The couple planned to settle down in Dubai. The wedding was even more controversial because Shoaib Malik was accused by another girl of already being married to her and hence he could not marry Mirza without first divorcing her. Initially for many days, Shoaib Malik refused to grant the divorce claiming he was never married. This resulted in a huge media drama leading to so much online attention as stated earlier. Finally, having no other option, Shoaib divorced the girl paving the way for his next marriage to Mirza. Sania's mother Naseema has been appointed as the manager of the two member tennis team for London Olympics 2012.
Mirza is the highest ranked female tennis player ever from India, with a career high ranking of 27 in singles and 7 in doubles. She is the first Indian female player to surpass US$1m in career earnings; first Indian to win a WTA Tour title of any kind; and, by winning the 2009 Australian Open – Mixed Doubles Event, became the third Indian, male or female, to win a Grand Slam title (the first two being Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes). Mirza has also won the 2012 French Open – Mixed Doubles Event (her second Grand Slam title).
Mirza was named one of the '50 heroes of Asia' by Time in October 2005. In March 2010, The Economic Times named Mirza in the list of the "33 women who made India proud".
Sania was born into a Muslim family to Imran Mirza, a sports journalist, and his wife Naseema in Mumbai, Maharashtra. She and younger sister Anam were brought up in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh in a religious family. Mirza began playing tennis at the age of six, turning professional in 2003. She was trained by her father. She attended NASR school in Hyderabad and later graduated from St. Mary's.
In 2009, Sania Mirza became engaged to childhood friend Sohrab Mirza. However the engagement was called off shortly after. Then, she dated Faizan Udyawar, who is a multimillionaire businessman, for six months. Since she wanted to marry a sportsperson, she started seeing Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik. On 12 April 2010, she married Shoaib Malik in an Islamic wedding ceremony at the Taj Krishna Hotel in Hyderabad, India followed by Pakistani wedding customs for a mahr of INR61 lakh (US$137,500). Their Walima ceremony was held in Lahore, Pakistan. The online attention the wedding received made Mirza the most searched woman tennis player and most searched Indian sportsperson in 2010 according to Google Trends. The couple planned to settle down in Dubai. The wedding was even more controversial because Shoaib Malik was accused by another girl of already being married to her and hence he could not marry Mirza without first divorcing her. Initially for many days, Shoaib Malik refused to grant the divorce claiming he was never married. This resulted in a huge media drama leading to so much online attention as stated earlier. Finally, having no other option, Shoaib divorced the girl paving the way for his next marriage to Mirza. Sania's mother Naseema has been appointed as the manager of the two member tennis team for London Olympics 2012.
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