Sania Mirza, who stopped playing singles over the past two years, will continue playing doubles exclusively.
The 27-year-old reached a career-high singles rank of No. 27 in 2007 but has been battling wrist injuries for much of her career.
“I wish I could say yes,” she said about the prospect of returning to singles action. “Actually one of the reasons was my body after three surgeries. It was not like I had one surgery and I was like, 'Okay, let me bag this and let me just play doubles’ because I knew I was good at it.
“I made a comeback, got to Top 30 [in singles] almost every time, and just after the third surgery my body just wouldn't recover. I had to make the decision a couple years ago, and it was probably the toughest decision of my life. It was very, very hard for me to make that decision.”
Mirza has won 22 doubles titles and three mixed doubles titles, but still thinks about what might have been. “I still miss it, believe it or not,” Mirza told TENNIS.com. “I still practice singles when I'm home. Like just obviously in limited quantities because I don't want to hurt myself.
“I miss it a lot. I always knew it wasn't about ability, it was more about my body. Sometimes you got to listen to nature. But this just proves that it was the right decision for me—I feel like I'm playing really well. I had to readjust my goals and have new goals, and one of them was obviously to try and win a Slam, in doubles, try and get to No. 1 and obviously try and win the WTA Championships. Achieved one of those goals, and I'm close enough close enough to being No. 1 now. In hindsight it was the right decision. I won't be making a comeback in singles.”
Mirza will play with a new partner, Hsieh Su-Wei of Taiwan, next year. Mirza and Cara Black won the WTA Finals in Singapore, easily beating Shuai Peng and Hsieh. Black is considering retirement from tennis.