Australian Open 2023: Sania Mirza displays flashes of the old in last Grand Slam match

Melbourne: As Sania Mirza made her way to the interview room, there was a common question from many: ‘Why are you retiring?’ And it was a fair question despite the outcome of her most recent match – a 6-7, 2-6 defeat to Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos in the final of the mixed doubles event at the Australian Open. It was Mirza’s dream scenario in how she wanted to bow out: playing and competing - which is why she prolonged the inevitable beyond last year’s US Open. She didn’t want to head into the sunset with an injury deciding her story. These two weeks in Melbourne have been a bonus. The 36-year-old reached the second round of women’s doubles and went all the way to the final in the mixed. All her matches drew plenty of crowds, chants of ‘C’mon Sania’ became the theme and fans came out in numbers with the Indian flag. That was also the theme as she stepped up to the biggest court at Melbourne Park – the Rod Laver Arena. Rohan Bopanna trudged beside her, just the way he did 22 years ago when these two paired up for the Shriram Nationals (now monikered the Fenesta Open).

The dream scenario went awry from that moment on. Stefani and Matos broke Bopanna in the very first game to plant a marker of what was to come. The Brazilian pairing came from 3-5 down to take the opening set in a tiebreak while saving a set point. The second set was more one-way traffic for Stefani and Matos who served big, volleyed better, and kept the pressure on the Indian duo. Stefani, 25, and Matos, 27, converted the close games and closed the match out in just under 90 minutes. Also Read |  Twitter salutes Sania Mirza as tennis ace says goodbye to Grand Slams The scoreline might suggest this was straightforward for Stefani and Matos but a few points here and there and this may well have gone into a third set, if not change eventual winners. 14 of 20 games played went to 30-30 or closer with the Indians winning just four of them. “When I started off, I was struggling to serve - that’s my biggest weapon and just my toss… I kept trying to find best way to do that. It put us on the backfoot straightaway, with me losing serve early in that first game,” said 42-year-old Bopanna on the match. “Having said that, we still managed to hang in there, got the break. You know, I had the opportunity to serve that set out, and we had set point as well.” “Yes, loads and loads of chances. I think it’s tough to really pick or say this particular point would have made the difference.”

While things didn’t go to plan, there were flashes of the old with Mirza hitting exquisite forehands. At 3-3, Matos went for a chip-and-charge with a slider only to be given a fitting reply with Mirza striking a forehand winner, throwing in the crafty wristwork right at the end to take the ball beyond the leftie. “It feels great, especially when you go past the guy on a short crosscourt forehand. Feels amazing (smiling). That shot has won me a few Slams and won me a few tournaments, and it was something that came very naturally to me,” said Mirza on arguably her biggest weapon. “Steffi Graf was my idol growing up who had one of the biggest forehands, if not the biggest, in the world. I always wanted to emulate her. I wanted to have a forehand like hers. I’m so glad that I was able to come close to that, and people talk about my forehand,” she stated.

Mirza, who spent 91 weeks as WTA doubles World No 1, was supposed to finish her career with one more tournament in Dubai alongside Madison Keys. But she joked about being ‘conned’ into adding Abu Dhabi into the mix alongside Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Sania has spoken in the past about keeping her emotions in check, especially on court, but this was not a regular occasion. She acknowledged it was a lot to handle which resulted in tears during the speech. The end might not go with the dream that Sania had but her career has not been far from a fairytale. “If I had to picture myself, I close my eyes and picture myself of where I would like to finish my career, it would be on the biggest stage of tennis,” she said.

“I was able to do that, regardless of whether you win or lose. I mean, I’m able to say that I’m leaving the game on the top. I’m able to say I’m leaving the game because I want to, on my own terms, and that is very important for me.” Mirza stated becoming a parent puts things into perspective for you. Bopanna, too, is a father to a young child. “I feel like after you have a child, especially, you know, winning and losing tennis matches, it really puts things into perspective of how small or big that is.” “Me and Rohan, I mean, we might be sad and upset that we lost a final, but at the end of the day, this moment, this memory with Rohan is something that I will cherish for the rest of my life. We might have lost Rio (Olympics) and came that close to winning a medal, but that’s a memory, an emotion we shared together. That’s made us closer as people, as friends. I’m so grateful.” And we, Sania Mirza, are grateful to have had you for the last decade-and-a-half. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .