'Competitiveness is in my blood': Sania Mirza reacts after reaching Australian open final

Sania Mirza playing the last grand slam of her career has reached the final of the mixed doubles in the ongoing Australian Open 2023. Sania reached the final along with her partner Rohan Bopanna. Sania defeated  the third-seeded pair of Great Britain's Neal Skupski and USA's Desirae Krawczyk by 7-6, 6-7 (10-6) in the semi-final match. 

The match between the Indian pair and the third seeded duo lasted for about 1 hour 52 minutes but at last it was the Indian pair who had won the match. After the match Sania was asked how she feel after reaching the finals. 

'competitiveness is in my blood'

Sania answered, “I play every match trying to win, whether it’s my last tournament or my last Slam or my first Slam. For me, competitiveness is in my blood.”

“Every time I step on the court, I want to win regardless of whether it’s going to be my last Slam, whether it’s my last season... It’s special in many ways. It’s emotional in many ways. The approach to every match remains the same, the same professionalism, warm-up, routine and sort of will to win. That doesn’t really change”, Sania told reporters. 

Sania was also asked about her relationship with Bopanna. Sania said, "He was my first mixed doubles partner when I was 14 and today I'm 36 and he is 42 and we are still playing, we have a solid relationship. We are excited to come back here and give ourselves another chance. We were playing the best-mixed doubles pair on Tour and had to come up with the best."

Sania Mirza last won the Australian Open mixed doubles with her Swiss partner Martina Hingins. Sania Mirza till now has won two Australian Open titles with one in 2009 and the other in 2016. She would look forward win her third title. Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna will next face the Brazilian pair of Luisa Stefani and Rafael Matos. The Brazilian pair defeated Australia’s Olivia Gadecki and Marc Polmans by 6-4, 4-6 and 5-11. 

Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna are one the best players that India has ever produced and the amount of contribution they made to make our country proud is absolutely commendable.