On International Women’s Day, Indian tennis star Sania Mirza opened up about her struggles in an interview with Rupha Ramani on Firstpost. She talked about her journey, from the highs and lows of her career to life after retiring.

Mirza reflected on retiring from tennis, saying, “I think I’ll lose my mind if I’m not busy, to be very honest. That’s how my life has been and, actually, one of the thoughts I had when I was retiring was like ‘oh my god’ and so many people would ask me, what are you gonna do now, and I had no plan and I was like ‘I actually don’t know.’”

Despite thinking she might slow down after retiring, Mirza found herself keeping busy with different things like the Women’s Premier League and covering the French Open. She’s grateful for living her dream, saying, “There’s a very few handful of people in this world who get to live their dream. And I feel very fortunate that I was able to do that.”

Mirza stressed the importance of loving what you do, not just for the money. “Nobody wakes up in the morning and says, I’m going to start this career. I want to do it so I can make a lot of money. That cannot be the sole goal for anybody.”

She also talked about the challenges of fame and scrutiny, saying, “It’s been very hard. Playing and succeeding or failing or whatever it is at what you do on a personal level is hard enough. When you put a public platform in it, you put media scrutiny in it…there’s so many things that go along with it.”

Mirza discussed growing up in the public eye, saying, “I became Sania Mirza when I was 16… I’ve lived more years as a known person to the world.” She emphasized the importance of being real and embracing imperfections in a world where social media plays a big role.