Indian tennis star Sania Mirza and Pakistan cricketer husband Shoaib Malik named their baby boy Izhaan Mirza Malik, the Pakistan cricketer revealed on Twitter. Earlier in the day, Malik had announced the news of the birth of their baby boy. "Excited to announce: Its a boy, and my girl is doing great and keeping strong as usual #Alhumdulilah. Thank you for the wishes and Duas, we are humbled #BabyMirzaMalik", he captioned. The couple, who got married on April 12, 2010, had confirmed the pregnancy news on April 23. The 31-year-old tennis star had earlier said that the child would bear surnames of both of them.
The former doubles World No.1, Sania has been on the sidelines since October 2017 and had said that she was aiming to be back on court for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Reiterating her point, Sania said that she would like to set an example for her child that nor pregnancy, motherhood and parenthood should not be something that holds one back from your dreams.
Sania is a winner of six Grand Slam doubles titles, including the 2015 Wimbledon ladies' doubles with Martina Hingis.
Global superstar Serena Williams had won the 2017 Australian Open when she was few weeks pregnant with her daughter Alexis Olympia and returned to the WTA Tour in March 2018.
Former world number one and Belgian star Kim Clijsters had come out of retirement in 2008, one year after giving birth to her daughter.
Sania, in 2005, became the first Indian to win a WTA tournament singles title. She reached the fourth round of the US Open in the same year, and by 2007 was among the women's top 30.
But a wrist injury ended her singles dream and she focused on doubles tennis. A partnership with Swiss great Martina Hingis produced three Grand Slam titles.