-!!- Happy Birthday S.A.N.I.A M.I.R.Z.A -!!-

She's the first ever I n d i a n w o m a n to win a WTA title.

She's was named one of the '50 heroes of Asia' by Time in October 2005. In March 2010.

She was named as one of the "33 women who made India proud" by

The E c o n o m i c T i m e s.

She is one of the female style icon of India

She is none other than S A N I A M I R Z A

Sania Mirza was born in Mumbai, Maharashtra on 1 5 t h N o v e m b e r 1986, to Imran Mirza & his wife Naseema. They moved to Hyderabad shortly after her birth. She attended Nasr School & later graduated from St. Mary's College. Mirza received an honorary degree of D o c t o r o f L e t t e r sfrom the MGR Educational and Research Institute University in Chennai on 11 December 2008. She started taking interest in tennis at the age of 6. She has been coached by her father & also Roger Anderson..

Sania Mirza got married to Pakistani Cricketer S h o a i b M a l i k on 12 April 2010. It was grand celebration and also the step towards development of good relations between the two nations Indian and Pakistan.

Sania played her first international tournament in 1999 when she represented India at the World junior Championship at Jakarta. She has also appeared till the semifinal round of the French Open girls' doubles and in the girls' singles at Wimbledon where she suffered a second round defeat. Sania won 10 singles and 13 doubles titles as a junior player. On the senior circuit, Mirza started to show early success as she made her debut in April 2001 on the ITF Circuit as a 15-year-old.

In February 2003, Mirza was given a wildcard to play in her first ever WTA tournament, at the AP Tourism Hyderabad Open. She had a good result representing India on the Fed Cup, winning three straight matches. She helped India win a bronze medal in the mixed doubles event of the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, partnering Leander Paes. In addition, Mirza picked up 4 gold medals at the 2003 Afro-Asian Games in Hyderabad.

Sania won her first W T A d o u b l e s title at her hometown event, the 2004 AP Tourism Hyderabad Open, partnering Liezel Huber. She won 6 ITF singles titles in 2004. In February, Sania Mirza became the f i r s t ever Indian woman to win a WTA title, by winning her hometown event, the 2005 AP Tourism Hyderabad Open, defeating ninth seeded Alona Bondarenko in the final. Her good-form continued at the 2005 Dubai Tennis Championships, where in round two she upset 4th seed and reigning US Open champion to reach the second round of 2005 Wimbledon Championships, where she lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova in a tight 3 setter.

Mirza became the first I n d i a n w o m a n to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament at the 2005 US Open, where she was defeated top seed Maria Sharapova in the Round of 16. At the Japan Open, Sania reached the semifinals. Thanks to a successful 2005 season, Mirza was named the WTA Newcomer of the Year.

Sania was seeded at the 2006 Australian Open(the first female Indian to be s e e d e d in a grand slam event), only falling to Michalla Krajicek. In September, she reached the semifinals of the Sunfeast Open, losing to eventual champion and top seed Martina Hingis. She also won the doubles title there partnering Huber. She made the quarterfinals of the Hansol Korea Open (defeating top seed H i n g i s en route) and the Tashkent Open. In December, Sania picked up t h r e e medals at the Doha Asian Games- Gold, in mixed doubles and Silver in women's singles and team. Sania notched up three top ten wins- against Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova and Martina Hingis in the same year

Sania had the best results of her career during the 2007 summer hard court season, finishing eighth in the 2007 U.S. Open and reaching her highest singles ranking of world No. 27. She reached the quarterfinals in San Diego, the semifinals at Cincinnati, and made it to the final at Stanford. She also won the doubles event in Cincinnati with Shahar Pe'er. At the 2007 US Open, she fared much better in the doubles, reaching the quarterfinals in mixed with her partner Mahesh Bhupathi and the quarterfinals in the women's doubles with Bethanie Mattek. She won 4 d o u b l e s t i t l e s in 2007.

Sania Mirza was runner-up in the 2008 Australian Open mixed doubles partnering M a h e s h B h u p a t i. She represented India at the 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing. She was eliminated from singles when she retired in her match against Iveta Beneov due to a right wrist injury. In mixed doubles, Mirza picked up her first G r a n d S l a m title at the 2009 Australian Open, partnering with Mahesh Bhupathi. In October, she represented India at the 2010 Commonwealth Games as the 2nd seed and reached to the final. In November, she represented India at the 2010 Asian Games and won B r o n z e M e d a l in singles. In Mixed Doubles she partnered with India's Vishnu Vardhanlosing in the finals to Chan Yung-jan and Yang Tsung-hua and won S i l v e r Medal.

Sania participated at the Premier-level Family Circle Cup in Charleston. In doubles, she won the title with Vesnina. She won her 11th WTA Tour Doubles Title and second of the year. In doubles of F r e n c h O p e n, 2011, Mirza had what was probably the greatest highlight of her career- reaching the finals of a G r a n d S l a m & she ended up runner-up with Vesnina losing out to Andrea Hlavkov and Lucie Hradeck. Sania again participated in the French Open, 2012 in the Women's doubles (with Mattek-Sands) and the mixed doubles (with Bhupathi). In the doubles she found great success being winner with Bhupathi.

Sania partnered different players during 2013 and won 5 WTA Titles. She began 2014 playing with Cara Black. They finished as runners-up in the 2014 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. Mirza and Black recorded three consecutive quarterfinal finishes in the subsequent clay tournaments. Sania Mirza won a g o l d & b r o n z e at the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. She also won a bronze medal in Women's doubles tournament, where she paired with Prarthana Thombare. Black and Mirza won their biggest title together at the WTA Finals defeating Hsieh Su-wei & Peng. It was the h e a v i e s t d e f e a t ever witnessed in the end-of-season competition's doubles final which dates back 41 years to 1973, the year the WTA was founded.

Sania Mirza participated in the International Premier Tennis League on 28 November 2014, playing with the Micromax Indian Aces along side tennis legend R o g e r F e d e r e r, countryman Rohan Bopanna, top Serbian Ana Ivanovica. She played all the Mixed Doubles matches alongside Bopanna and partnered Federer who visited the country for his first match there in the New Delhileg, much to her personal and fans' delight. Sania won majority of her matches and played a key role for the I n d i a n A c e s to win the inaugural edition of the IPTL 2014.

Sania began her 2015 season ranked No. 6 in the doubles rankings. She paired up with former partner and good friend American Bethanie Mattek-Sands for the Apia International and went on to win the tournament for her 23rd career title (5th with Mattek-Sands) beating the highly fancied 2nd seeds Martina Hingis and Flavia Pennetta in the quarters and top seeds Raquel Kops-Jones & Abigail Spears but lost in the second round. She also re-e n t e r e d the Top 5 in the rankings.

Mirza then ended her partnership with Hsieh Suwei & paired up with Swiss legend M a r t i n a H i n g i s . The pair entered Indian Wells as the top seeds and went on to win the titles in their debut. They beat opponents including former world number ones Lisa Raymond & Samantha Stosur. They also won the Miami masters event, again beating the same opponents. Sania jumped t w o p l a c e s on the Ranking table to be ranked at her best No. 3 in the Doubles Rankings. The duo then entered the 2015 Miami Open & went to beat the same opponents in the finals making it their second title in as many tournaments. Sania-Hingis won 2015 Family Circle Cup's double title in April 2015 and with the title win Mirza became the first I n d i a n to be ranked world No. 1 in WTA's doubles rankings. It was Sania & Hingis' third successive title win and they have not lost a s i n g l e m a t c h since joining forces. "It's a dream for every kid to be No.1 one day." Sania said after her win. She & Hingis won the 2015 Wimbledon Championships, defeating Ekaterina Makarova & Elena Vesnina in the final. The win gave Sania her first Grand Slam title in W o m e n 's D o u b l e s and Hingis, her 10th. With the win Mirza and Hingis also regain the top spot in 2015 & there have been nine titles for the "SanTina" pair so far this year..

A r j u n a Award by Government of India in 2004

N e w c o m e r of The Year from WTA (Women's Tennis Association) in 2005

P a d m s h r e e Award by Government of India.
Become y o u n g e s t achiever of Padmashree winner at the age of 19. A Padmashree award is one of the highest civilian awards in India and the winners are honoured on Republic Day in 2006

This year Sania became the second tennis player to receive the country's h i g h e s t sporting honour - Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award

This is not just about the current advertising virtue of celebrating youth. As a woman in a man's world, as a Muslim in conservative Muslim society and as a player from a developing country in a sport popular in rich nations, Sania Mirza has jumped over several hurdles to emerge as a role model--doubling her achievements with acts as a public figure that show a woman who can handle the fire and give it back where needed.

This is not about her game only, but also about her spirit and her persona.

Last year, when she was named a UN g o o d w i l l a m b a s s a d o r on gender equality and women's empowerment for South Asia, it was the natural consequence of her personality cocktail: sport empress meets style diva meets social reformer.