Sania Mirza, the Indian tennis icon, is known for her achievements in the sport and for being an inspiration to millions of women across the globe. She became the first Indian woman to win a WTA doubles title in 2004, a time when it was not easy for women to achieve great feats.
She’s a pioneer for women in sports and has been breaking barriers and challenging societal norms ever since. Her success inspired hundreds of young girls to pursue a career in tennis, and while she may have retired from tennis now, her impact remains as powerful as her serves.
Sania Mirza was recently invited to the Republic Plenary Summit 2025 that took place on 6 March, where she gave a heartwarming and inspirational speech where she shared the struggles she faced growing up and wanting a career in tennis, and urged the parents of young girls to support their kids.
In a beautiful message, she shared, “I would like to tell especially the parents of young girls because that is something I faced. We have enough people telling us that we can’t do something. We just need our parents to tell us that we can. Everything that we do growing up, you can’t do this, you can’t do that, everything is ‘don’t know you can’t do it.”
“So when you have your parents by your side, saying it doesn’t matter how many people say you can’t become a tennis player or whatever else you want to be. I’m telling you the confidence you feel and the kind of inspiration coming from them that something I was very lucky to have,” she added
The Padma-Shri awardee, Sania Mirza also shared her journey to her Wimbledon title and said, “I would love to tell parents to try and encourage young girls to take part in something out of the ordinary. Don’t be afraid because I was playing courts made out of cow dung and we said we wanna play Wimbledon one day and they laughed at us. They thought we were crazy and we were a little crazy to dream of to be very honest. But here we are, we got to win Wimbledon.”
#RepublicPlenarySummit | I didn't have any role model while growing up: Sania Mirza (@MirzaSania) former Indian Tennis Player
Watch #RepublicPlenary2025 LIVE here: https://t.co/BDhezev6aI…@Rpsggroup @canarabank @Ravingroup @HospitalsApollo @RelianceDigital @radicokhaitan… pic.twitter.com/jL0XsnWBPU
— Republic (@republic) March 6, 2025
Sania Mirza: Breaking Barriers and Winning Hearts in Tennis
Sania Mirza’s career is full of numerous achievements in tennis. She owns six grand slam titles, three in singles, and three in the doubles category. She became the World Number 1 in doubles and achieved a career high-ranking World Number 27 in singles. She has also won a number of medals at the Asian Games, including gold and silver.
Her impact extends beyond tennis as she was appointed as the UN Women’s Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia in 2013 and was featured in Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016.
She was awarded India’s highest awards in sports, Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna in 2015, and the Arjuna Award in 2004. She’s also awarded Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan, which is the country’s one of the most civilian honours. Despite facing significant setbacks throughout her career, Sania Mirza always came back stronger and achieved immense success. Her achievements make her a cultural icon in India as her influence extends beyond tennis and inspired millions of people across the globe.
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