Indian tennis ace reveals that she often gets asked about when she plans to start a family with husband and former Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik - something she finds very disrespectful
Sania Mirza with husband Shoaib Malik
Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza has revealed that she often gets asked about when she plans to start a family with husband and former Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik — something she finds very disrespectful.
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Sania Mirza with husband Shoaib Malik. Pic/ AFP
In an interview with the BBC, the World No 1 doubles star said that no one had the right to ask her such personal questions. "I remember (it happened) right after Wimbledon and...I find it extremely disrespectful to ask someone when they’re having a child. Just because I am a public figure, I don’t think it gives anyone the right to ask me what happens in my bedroom," said the 29-year-old, who features in the BBC’s list of 100 aspirational women across the world.
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Mirza also recalled the media frenzy soon after the announcement of her marriage with Malik in 2010 since he is a Pakistani.
All for love
"We fell in love. We didn’t think about what country we were from. To be honest, I think people expected us to come out and say that we were trying to build relations between India and Pakistan. But no, we weren’t. We were trying to get married and we were in love. It could have been someone from Timbuktu, for all I care.
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"It wasn’t about which country he was from, and for him, either because he also got a lot of flak for it for no reason. Sure, we did expect that it would make news, everything makes news, but did we expect it the way it was, no, most definitely not," said Mirza.
Another incident that hurt the Hyderabadi was when a politician called her the daughter-in-law of Pakistan. Mirza had wept on TV while reacting to the comment. "More than hurt, it just made me really angry. But now, when I look back, I have got so much love. We are a country of 1.2 billion people and more outside India.
Overcoming past anger
"I have got so much love over the last 15 years that if 10-15 people have a problem with you, I don’t think that you should cry over it or get angry over it because everyone is entitled to their opinion. So I’m not angry anymore, I was not angry 20 minutes after that breakdown that I had (on TV)," she said.