People or money: What is more important for Sania Mirza in life?

Former Tennis star Sania Mirza has said that money and fame are mere luxuries, stressing that it is the people who stand by you through thick and thin.

"Most important things in life are not money, fame and things. They are a part of luxury [...] What is [actually] important is that who is going to be there for you during your tough time when you really need them," Sania said while speaking to BBC News Urdu.

Responding to a query regarding her remarks in another interview wherein she had termed “losing touch with the reality”, Sania stressed on the need to have people who speak truth and give you reality checks when so many people are saying nice things.

“I think it is very important to be in touch with reality [and to know] what is important to you, who is important to you and who are you important to for,” she said.

She said that she wanted to stop while being at the top, adding that her "body had become an issue as well". "After three surgeries and a kid as well, [I] wasn't able to recover [like before]."

"People would see that you're in the finals of the Grand Slam but what they didn't understand what I was having to do to reach the finals," she added.

When asked what change she saw in herself in the last 10 years, Sania said that she has become more patient because of her age and her kid. "I think when you become a mother, there's no other solution for you but to be patient," she added.

The athlete said that she is glad that she has become more patient as she used to be "quiet impulsive", adding that she thinks a lot before doing something or taking a decision.

Sania further said that what she learned from sports is also applied in real life.

"The education I got from sportsmanship, I don't think I could learn it from any book in the world. You know you have bad and good days, you win and you lose but you try again and you try to get better than you were the day before," she said.

"The same thing can be applied to life as I have applied them in my life from my experiences that bad days don't last, good days also last but you have to try to stretch those good days and if you had a good day then you the next you have to try and make it better."