Sania Mirza Biography

Indian tennis player Sania Mirza born to sports journalist father Imran Mirza and mother Naseema who works in printing business on 15 November, 1986 in Mumbai. Although born in the business capital of India in Mumbai, Sania grown up in Hyderabad in a religious Muslim family. She has younger sister named Anam. Sania has done schooling from Nasr School, Hyderabad and graduation from St. Mary's College. Her father and other family members coached her to play tennis.

At the early age of six, Sania began playing tennis. However she made her debut to professional circuit at the age of 16 in 2003. She was forced to play tennis in her childhood by her mother. Sania was used to go for swimming, passing tennis courts every day. One day her mother asked her why don't you play tennis in summer vacation because she had nothing to do except swimming for an hour or whatever? That's what impulse Sania to hold racket in her hand. Another turn in Sania Mirza's life to take tennis seriously is when her coach called her parents to say he'd never seen a player that good at such a young age. No wonder her powerful game made her favorite sports person in India.

In 2003, Sania made debut of career with India Fed Cup team, where she won all three singles matches. The same year she also won the Wimbledon Championships Girls' Doubles title partnering with Russian player Alisa Kleybanova. At the Asian Tennis Championship in 2004, she turned out as a runner up. Year 2005 build recognition to the tennis player when she became the first Indian woman to reach the 4th round of a Grand Slam event US Open over passing Mashona Washington, Maria Elena Camerin and Marion Bartoli in the earlier rounds. Also made a 3rd round appearance to another Grand Slam event Australian Open, where she loses to the former champion Serena Williams.

Sania won the first WTA title of her career- Hyderabad Open Finals on February 12, 2005 beating Alyona Bondarenko of Ukraine in the finals. Till 2006 September, Sania made three top 10 players Martina Hingis, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Nadia Petrova to lose to her. Later when representing India at the Asian Games, Doha, 2006, Sania clinched a gold medal in mixed doubles teaming with Leander Paes, silver in both women's singles and Indian women's team.

Meanwhile she was also awarded by the Indian government with Arjuna Award in 2004 and Padma Shri in 2006. Arjuna Award is given to sport person for his/her outstanding performance in the sport, while Padma Shri is the fourth highest civilian honor of India given to people for their distinguished contribution to various fields like arts, literature, sports etc.

Being hard courts as her favorite surface, Sania displayed good results in 2007 hard-court season. She stands out 8th in US Open 2007 Series. Made final round appearance in singles at Bank of the West Classic, while won in the doubles event along with Shahar Peer. Also made a quarterfinal appearance to Tier 1 Acura Classic tournament. One more time reached 3rd round of US Open 2007. However shown better results in doubles, reaching quarterfinals of mixed and women's doubles.

In 2008, Sania participated in Beijing Olympics to represent India. In singles event she retired from a round of 64, however crashed out from doubles event from round of 16. On 2008-12-11, the ace Indian tennis player was honored with Doctor of Letters from MGR Educational and Research Institute University, Chennai. It's the same institute where Sania's niece Sonia Baig studies.

In 2009, Mirza won first Grand Slam tile along with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi at Australian Open mixed doubles event. With this she became the first and only Indian woman to win a grand slam title. The highest career ranking of Sania Mirza till date is- 27 in singles and 18 in doubles.