Don't care about what people think: Sania Mirza's advice to sports players

Sania Mirza advises sports players to block the noise and stop caring about outside opinions in a roundtable hosted by Meta on Tuesday.

The recently retired tennis icon says players should try and find inner validation, which would assist them to reach their full potential.

"I don't necessarily have to love everyone and everyone doesn't have to necessarily love me. If someone likes me it is fine and in case someone doesn't then I am okay with that also. You need to have validation by yourself," said Mirza at the roundtable.

After retirement, the former world doubles number one began mentoring female cricket players playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore in Women Premier League (WPL). At the moment Mirza's mentorship for the WPL team revolves around mental health.

She became a torch bearer for Indian tennis, especially for in the women's category, for close to two decades. The former tennis player started training at six, and came into national attention after debuting at Australia Open 2005 at the age of 18. She also reached the third round but was defeated by Serena Williams.

Mirza made a generation fans of tennis and also inspired thousands to pick a racquet and play the game. Many people can attest to the last statement including me.

Over the years not many female players have been able to come close to Mirza's career trajectory.

"It is sad and unfortunate that I always come up empty when someone asks me about the lack of Indian female tennis players breaking out," says Mirza.

"In other Asian countries, including China, there has been a revolution of many players breaking into a sport after one person makes it," she adds. But India has not seen this trend.

Mirza claims that a lack of infrastructure is a major cause.

While Tennis associations exist, it is rarely equipped with enough coaching, planning or finances.

"A lot of girls play tennis. But the problem is lack of system. A good number of people would not find someone to take care of a player's training and finances. You learn from your own mistakes," says Mirza.

But now that the player has retired, she says with more time in hand she would want to get inside the system. "I will do as much as I can as a player. But we need much more solid infrastructure in place. There needs to be more tennis academies, more coaches, who can also travel with the player," she says.

Disclaimer: This story has been updated to correct a typo.