New Delhi [India], September 24 : Former India tennis star Sania Mirza opened up on how motherhood transformed her life and career, and how sport has constantly taught her resilience and self-forgiveness.
Reflecting on her journey after becoming a mother, Sania said that society often stereotypes women once they embrace motherhood.
"So I think that when a woman becomes a mother, everyone treats it like it's the end of her life first of all. Forget the end of her career. They treat it like, now she's just going to have one or two kids and if she dares to put herself first, it's all, 'Oh, but who's taking care of the child? What's going to happen?'" she said in a conversation with RevSportz.
Sania, however, feels glad that those perceptions are changing, especially in tennis.
"I'm so glad that has changed now. Like how many mothers do you see on the tennis court and all over global sport, but tennis in general, there are just so many mothers in the top hundred now. And it's amazing to see because this is a stereotype that needed to be broken. To put yourself and love yourself and still put your dreams out there, it's not criminal. It's not criminal to do that," she said.
Talking about her own comeback after giving birth to her son Izhaan, Sania revealed she was always determined to return.
"Was it always clear that I was going to make a comeback after Izhaan? Yeah, I think so. That's why I didn't announce my retirement. It was a different story that I was 23 kilos overweight when that happened, and I was like: 'Wow, how am I going to do this?' But I knew I still had tennis left in me. And obviously, I still had success after coming back so I was right about that," she explained.
For Sania, motherhood has given her a new perspective on wins and losses.
"Motherhood changes every perspective in life. Everything changes. Losing a tennis match, losing Rio, not getting a medal there seems like a very small problem to have when you have a child. Becoming a parent is the single greatest feeling that you can have. And the amazing part is that feeling only grows as you keep going. And any parent will tell you that. So, your entire perspective of life changes, your entire perspective of losses changes. Losses that hurt more will hurt less because now I go back to my son and he says, 'I love you' and gives me a hug no matter whether I win or I lose. It makes absolutely zero difference to anything in life. So those are the moments that really evolve you as a person, I feel," Sania said.
The six-time Grand Slam winner also spoke about how sport teaches resilience and forgiveness, especially after failures.
"That's what sport teaches you because if you don't forgive yourself, like in a period of a match which is two and a half hours, you have to forgive yourself hundreds of times every time you miss a point. Because if you don't forgive yourself, you can't come out and play the next point," she noted.
According to her, sport is a classroom like no other.
"Sport teaches you how to get over failure. It teaches you how to be resilient when you are failing. It teaches you how to have commitment towards what you believe. It teaches you sacrifice. It teaches you how to deal with victory with humility. These are life lessons that no other education can teach you, in my opinion, and that's why sport is so important," Sania added.
She credited the support system around athletes for helping them process difficult moments.
"Some people have a harder time dealing with it, and again, I think you have to give credit to the people around you for almost making a protective wall around you to allow you to feel the loss as little as possible. Because you will still feel it, and then they give you that courage that it's okay if you've had a bad day. Sport teaches you that no matter how bad the day is, if you want there to be a tomorrow, you can come back in the morning and try again," she said.
"When I have a bad day in life, I'm like it's okay. It's over. Let me just sleep and tomorrow is a new day," Sania noted.
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