Mumbai: Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan on Wednesday launched the autobiography of Indian tennis player Sania Mirza named ‘Ace against Odds.’ The book was released in Hyderabad and Sania said that her intention was to get her story out since she was often mispresented in the media.
In an interview with India Today, Sania Mirza slammed journalist Rajdeep Sardesai for asking her a sexist question about ‘settling down.’ During a live telecast, Sardesai asked Sania:
Here is an excerpt from that interview:
Rajdeep: Amidst all the celebrityhood, when is Sania going to settle down? Is it going to be in Dubai? Is it going to be in any other country? What about motherhood… building a family… I don’t see all that in the book, it seems like you don’t want to retire just yet to settle down.
Sania: You don’t think I’m settled?
Rajdeep: You don’t talk about retirement, about raising a family, about motherhood, what’s life beyond tennis is going to be…
Sania: You sound disappointed that I’m not choosing motherhood over being number one in the world at this point of time. But I’ll answer your question anyway, that’s the question I face all the time as a woman, that all women have to face — the first is marriage and then it’s motherhood. Unfortunately, that’s when we’re settled, and no matter how many Wimbledons we win or number ones in the world we become, we don’t become settled. But eventually it will happen, not right now. And when it does happen I’ll be the first one to tell everybody when I plan to do that.
Rajdeep: I must apologize; I framed that question very badly. I promise you, you’re right, I would never ask this question to a male athlete…
Sania: I’m so glad; you’re the first journalist to apologize to me on national television.