Sania Mirza LIVE: ‘I don’t know when my son will be able to see his father

In the lockdown, Sania Mirza’s family is separated into Hyderabad and Sialkot. (Source: Express File Photo)

Like most, the pandemic-induced lockdown has caused a great deal of anxiety for Sania Mirza. But it isn’t just the unknown nature of the virus or being confined indoors that makes the tennis star uneasy. In her case, it is also the fact that her family is separated: Sania and her child Izhaan in Hyderabad, India, and her husband, cricketer Shoaib Malik, in Sialkot, Pakistan.

Sania, who returned to the tennis court in January after two years, was travelling non-stop for tournaments, escaping the virus along the way, and returned home from the USA just before the lockdown was imposed. Malik was competing in the Pakistan Super League when similar measures were enforced there.

“So he got stuck in Pakistan, I got stuck here. That was very difficult to deal with because we have a small child. We don’t know when Izhaan will be able to see his father again. It’s as basic as that,” Sania said in a conversation with The Indian Express on Facebook Live. “We are both pretty positive and practical people. He has a mother who is over 65 and by herself, so he needs to be there. So in the end, it worked out best that he was there with her. We hope we are healthy and come out of this on the right side of it.”

It’s one of the many emotions Sania is experiencing simultaneously. Tennis, at the moment, does not occupy prime space in her mind. “I don’t have anxiety problems but a couple of nights ago, I was having anxiety out of nothing. I was lying in bed and thinking of things because there’s so much uncertainty. Having a toddler in the house, you don’t know how to protect yourself, how to protect your child, you have parents who are older. So, you are not really thinking about work or tennis,” she said.

It’s about survival, she adds. The plight of migrant workers, among the most affected during the lockdown, ‘breaks her heart.’ She’s been raising funds and doing zakat (charity), this being the month of Ramzan. But Sania isn’t sure if even that is enough to help those in need. “It’s almost like you feel guilty to be in a privileged position when you see videos of them,” she says.

On Friday morning, Sania saw a picture of a ‘mother carrying a child on her shoulder while dragging a suitcase, and having another child on the suitcase.’ “It’s heart-wrenching. I really do feel for those who go on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis financially. The daily wagers…” she said. “Fortunately, a lot of us are in a privileged position and are able to help. I personally have reacted…