Sania Mirza opens up on embracing post-retirement life and her relationship with money

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza encouraged young mothers to love themselves amidst the process of raising a child during an interaction with CNBC-TV18 on Thursday. The six-time Grand Slam champion hung her boots from professional sport in February 2023, and has since devoted her time to television, broadcasting, and looking after her tennis academy. Whilst Mirza is soaking in the opportunity spend time with her son Izhaan, she is also grateful for the chance that she has gotten to explore newer opportunities in her career despite calling it a day from the sport.

“Love yourself! Young mothers forget to love themselves because we get so indulged and obsessed with our children, which is a huge and important part of us, but that’s not our only identity in our life. That’s not the only thing that can define us always. Self-love is always important, you can still do things that make you happy and not feel guilty about it!” Mirza said during the chat.

She added, “It’s been different, but really busy. I do a lot of TV, broadcasting, and I still have my tennis academy stuff going on. After retirement, I just felt like I wanted to evolve more. It’s been really nice to discover new things once you finish your career. As an athlete, that’s the good part that after you retire, you are still young enough to explore new things to do after you finish your career.”

Mirza even opened up on how her relationship with money has evolved over the years. The 37-year-old mentioned that humble beginnings ensured that she was never too overawed when reasonable amount of money came her way. Though she acknowledged that a certain sum is essential to lead a comfortable life, Mirza argued that she was content and happy in her life even when her family didn’t bag a significant income, and lived on a month-to-month expenditure basis.

“My relationship with money has changed. The thing is, we didn’t come from a lot of money. We didn’t come from a background where we could do whatever we wanted. We came from a normal middle-class family that was going month-to-month. That’s the background. I didn’t understand that well when I was younger,” she said.

“My parents put in an incredible amount of effort in ensuring that we never really didn’t have enough money when we wanted something. I have no idea how they did it. Somewhere, I still have it in me. If I could get the same product for either, 2000 or 1500, will I go for 2000, probably not? That’s just how I have been brought up. Having said that, do I feel that I can buy something for 20,000? Yes, I can,” Mirza added.

Amongst the several things that she has been doing after retirement, Mirza was also the mentor of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) team that became the champions of the second season of the Women’s Premier League (WPL) earlier this year. Relishing some downtime with her closed ones, doing offbeat activities that are helping her take a timely breather, Mirza is certainly enjoying the privileges that come with taking a backseat from her hectic two-decade-long professional tennis career.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow