Sania Mirza recalls how she felt ’empty’ day after retirement, struggled without a routine: ‘I was howling and crying…’ | Lifestyle News

Tennis champion Sania Mirza, who retired in 2023 after a glorious two-decade career, recalled how she felt “empty” the day after playing her last match in the Dubai Open. “Honestly, the first day I woke up after my last match, the morning after…I woke up and felt so empty. My parents were also at that time, like …’ but you wanted to retire’…ya, I did, but that day, it felt like a part of me had died. I don’t know how to put it any other way. It felt like I had to bury that life of mine that I lived for over 30 years and restart something and find a new schedule, a new routine.”
Admitting how she felt she had a schedule for three decades of her life, Sania continued: “I woke up in the morning and I realised there is no training or gym, because my entire day would be set. I knew my schedule for the whole year for the last 20 years. And all of a sudden, I didn’t have to do any of that. I just started crying…may be for two hours in my room…but I was howling and crying…which is not my personality…after that, I never cried. It sunk in. It’s also because I felt it was the right decision, because of my priorities. That was a huge adjustment. I am not a person who can sit…so I went into the RCB camp as a mentor..Then I went into TV. And I was like, I am busier after retirement now…”
Adding how it was an equally huge adjustment for her family, which invested in her career, Sania told Zoom: “Adjustment for all of us. Not just for me, because even for my parents, 30 years were invested only in me. I was the project of the family. Everybody had to realign themselves and readjust. My father used to travel with me, or my mother used to travel with me. After my son Izhaan was born, there was always the coordination of who was going to come, how, this, that. There was so much. For 30 years, we all had to re-adjust our lives.”
Here’s what to consider (Photo: Freepik)
Delnna Rrajesh, psychotherap and life coach, said this experience is not limited to sport. “It affects anyone who has spent years living inside a rigid structure, a demanding role or an identity that shaped their entire life. Athletes understand this most visibly. Their days are governed training cycles, travel calendars, dietary regimes and performance expectations. Their parents adapt to practice schedules. Their partners sacrifice personal plans. Their children grow up in hotel rooms, at tournaments, and in airports. The entire household learns to orbit the athlete. And then, one day, the routine ends,” said Delnna.
Whenever a role becomes your identity, its ending feels like losing yourself. “There is also a second layer to this experience. Families of high achievers undergo a parallel collapse. Parents who live around the athlete’s calendar feel unanchored. The entire system must rewire itself to a different heartbeat,” expressed Delnna.
Such transitions demand emotional honesty. You cannot build a new chapter on top of unresolved grief. “The deeper truth is that retirement is not an end. It is a reorientation. All the discipline, stamina and emotional resilience built over the years become the foundation for the next phase of life. The same traits that helped someone excel earlier now help them rebuild with clarity,” Delnna shared.

A few emotional foundations help individuals navigate this shift:
*Accept the grief rather than dismissing it. Retirement is a psychological separation, and mourning it is natural.Story continues below this ad
*Build a new routine slowly. The body and mind need structure, but it must come from choice rather than compulsion.
*Cultivate identity beyond achievement. Ask who you are without your past role and slowly let your new interests shape this answer.

*Encourage families to adapt together. They must discover new ways of relating that go beyond the old performance cycle.
*Retirement forces a person to make peace with stillness after years of speed. That stillness can feel frightening at first, but with guidance, it becomes the birthplace of reinvention, said Delnna.