Sania Mirza She will become the first Indian woman to participate in four Olympic Games but admitted on Thursday that being separated from her young son in Tokyo would be “difficult”. Family members have been banned from attending this month’s games as Japanese officials aim to reduce the risk from Covid-19 as much as possible. For Mirza, 34, this means that Izhaan, her son with husband and former Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik, will be with the family during their stay in Tokyo. “We are in tough times and we have to make tough decisions,” Mirza said. “But there was never any doubt in my mind about going. I was sure.”
Izhaan, who will only turn three in October this year, sat beside his mother at a press conference at Wimbledon on Thursday.
“It’s hard to leave him at any time. I try to make it as little as possible,” she said.
“But if there’s something I have to do, that’s what I’ll do. As working moms, sometimes you just have to do it.”
Mirza will play doubles with Ankita Raina in Tokyo.
“To play four Olympics in a row, I feel really humbled and grateful to be in this position to move to Tokyo after having a child,” she said.
Mirza returned to Wimbledon on Thursday for the first time since 2017 as she and Bethanie Mattek-Sands defeated sixth seeds Alexa Guarachi and Desira Kravczyk 7-5, 6-3 in the women’s doubles event.
Mirza was doubles champion with Martina Hingis at Wimbledon in 2015, followed by a second Slam at the US Open two months later.
He has 42 career doubles titles to his name with over 500 match wins.
He joked that he and Mattek-Sands, 36, were dealing a blow to the older generation at the All England club.
“It was just like old times,” Mirza said of playing with the American, with whom he has won five Tour titles.
“We were joking that we were spring chickens, flying the flag for players born in the 1980s because all the girls in the draw seem to be ’90s.”
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