Retired tennis champion Sania Mirza said that money and fame are just nice things to have, but what really matters are the people who support you when times are tough.
“Most important things in life are not money, fame and things. They are a part of luxury […] What is [actually] important is that who is going to be there for you during your tough time when you really need them,” Sania said while speaking to BBC News Urdu.
When asked about her previous comments on “losing touch with reality,” Sania emphasized the importance of having honest people around who can give you reality checks, especially when others are only saying nice things.
“I think it is very important to be in touch with reality [and to know] what is important to you, who is important to you and who are you important to for,” she said.
She said that she wanted to stop while being at the top, adding that her “body had become an issue as well”. “After three surgeries and a kid as well, [I] wasn’t able to recover [like before].”
“People would see that you’re in the finals of the Grand Slam but what they didn’t understand what I was having to do to reach the finals,” she added.
Sania said that in the past 10 years, she noticed she’s become more patient because she’s older and has a child. She believes that becoming a mother requires patience, and there’s no other choice but to learn it.
The athlete said that she is glad that she has become more patient as she used to be “quiet impulsive”, adding that she thinks a lot before doing something or taking a decision.
Sania also mentioned that the things she learned from sports help her in everyday life too.
“The education I got from sportsmanship, I don’t think I could learn it from any book in the world. You know you have bad and good days, you win and you lose but you try again and you try to get better than you were the day before,” she said.
“The same thing can be applied to life as I have applied them in my life from my experiences that bad days don’t last, good days also last but you have to try to stretch those good days and if you had a good day then you the next you have to try and make it better.”
