India's biggest women's tennis player Sania Mirza revealed she battled depression after a wrist injury forced her to pull out of 2008 Beijing Olympics. The 34-year-old tennis star, who went on to win six doubles Grand Slams, said the injury left her in a vulnerable state of mind as she often 'burst into tears for no reason'.
In an interview to YouTube channel, Mind Matters, Mirza said, "That day -- when I had to pull out of the 2008 Beijing Olympics because of a bad wrist injury -- I went into depression for 3-4 months. I remember crying for no reason. I mean, I used to be absolutely fine and then I would just burst into tears. I remember not coming out of my room to even eat a meal for over a month.
She further revealed that it was such a mental dent in her confidence that she felt she will never be able to play tennis again.
"I felt I will never be able to play tennis again. I am a bit of a control freak, so for me not being able to do something not on my terms was very difficult to digest," said Mirza, who recently was part of the Indian team in the Billie Jean King Cup in Latvia.
The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awardee pointed out that for a 20-year-old young tennis player, the pressure was too much to handle back then.
"It's a lot for anybody at any age, but for a 20-year-old to handle that kind of pressure, to handle that kind of emotion and to read every day that you're finished and you're never going to come back to not knowing if you'll ever be able to compete at another Olympics, is devastating," she said.
