Sania Mirza likely to change her retirement plans as she pulls out of US Open 2022 due to elbow injury

Hyderabad, Aug 23: Ace India tennis player Sania Mirza on Tuesday (August 23) announced pulling out of the upcoming US Open tennis tournament due to injury.

The 35-year-old, who is India's most accomplished woman tennis player, having won six Grand Slam titles, including three mixed doubles trophies, took to her social media handle to make the announcement and expressed her disappointment over the same.

Mirza - who had earlier announced to retire after the 2022 season - further claimed that non-participation in the last Grand Slam of the year, which starts August 29, certainly changes her retirement plans and that she'll inform about the same in the coming days.

"Hi guys, A quick update. I just have some not-so-great news. I hurt my forearm/elbow while playing in Canada 2 weeks ago and obviously didn't realise how bad it was until I got my scans yesterday and unfortunately I have infact torn a little bit of my tendon. I will be out for weeks and have pulled out of US Open. This isn't ideal and it's terrible timing and it will change some of my retirement plans but I will keep you all posted," Sania said in a statement on her Instagram story.

Mirza, who is a former world number 1 in women's doubles, has won the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open once each in the women's doubles event. The Hyderabadi tennis star earlier in January announced that 2022 will be her last season since her body is 'wearing down' and her motivation and energy for the everyday grind are not the same anymore.

She had returned to tennis after giving birth to her son in March 2019 but her progress was thwarted by the coronavirus pandemic and ahead of the Australian Open 2022, she made the announcement regarding her retirement.

Her swansong appearance at the Australian Open ended with a quarterfinal loss to the Aussie pair of Jaimee Fourlis and Jason Kubler in the mixed doubles event in Melbourne.

Later when asked whether her outlook towards tennis and the tour has changed considering it was her last season, Mirza said on Sony Sports Network, "I am not actually thinking about that at every match to be honest very, I think that I made the announcement too soon to be very honest, I am kind of regretting it because that's all I am being asked right now."