Birthday wishes are pouring in from around the world for tennis sensation Sania Mirza, who turned 36 today (November 15). From husband, cricketer Shoaib Malik’s adorable wish for her “healthy and happy” life to friend Ananya Birla’s lovely selfie with her “lemonhead”, it seems like Sania has love all around. She rang in her birthday at midnight with close friends and family, including mother Nasima Mirza, with whom she shares her birthday. Choreographer-filmmaker Farah Khan Kunder, who is also a close friend of Sania, took to Instagram to share a video of the mother-daughter cutting the cakes that looked every bit decadent.
It seemed like a fun birthday bash at a restaurant, the highpoint of which was the yummy-looking chocolate cake for the ace tennis player. Her mother, on the other hand, had cut what seemed like a strawberry cake. Take a look at the snippets here:
The cakes definitely look delicious. Representing India since a young age, Sania has been formerly ranked No. 1 in the women's doubles rankings. She is also the only Indian professional tennis player to be ranked in the Top 10 in singles or doubles. Sania took up tennis at the age of six, and there was no looking back ever since. Today, she is counted among one of the most renowned sports and fitness icons in the country. She is an inspiration to a generation of girls, who looked up to her as she smashed every record until she announced her retirement in 2022. But that couldn’t have been possible without the sheer amount of dedication, discipline, hard work, and mostly the fitness regime that Sania followed.
Speaking about her fitness and diet, Sania in an interview once shared that her workout routine depended heavily on the playing season. Her athletic diet, when she used to play, was about eating a lot of carbs. “We load up on carbs, because you are playing and you need that energy. When we are training in the off season, we try to cut down on the carbs and try to eat more protein," she said during an interview with NDTV. For a sportsperson, processed and junk food is off the radar, and it is no different for the tennis sensation. In the past few years, Sania has also adopted a gluten-free diet. She eats gluten-free pasta, rice, and chicken, and avoids flour and wheat as much as possible.
But that doesn’t mean Sania doesn’t believe in cheat days. She lets her guard off once in every 10 days, and relishes a good Hyderabadi meaty affair, but all cooked at home. If you didn’t know, Sania is an avid lover of spicy food and loves her plate full of Hyderabadi biryani and haleem. She also likes to indulge in a sweet treat sometimes; prefers a slice of cake. But everything is consumed in a moderate amount and is always followed by an extra 20-30 minutes of working out the next day.
