The former doubles world number one is a two-time Asian Games mixed doubles gold medallist.

Mirza also won singles silver and doubles bonze at the New Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games.

The 36-year-old had initially decided to retire at the end of last season, but an elbow injury ruled her out of the US Open, ending her season in August.

The six-time major champion - three in doubles and three in mixed doubles - plans to compete in the Australian Open with Kazakhstan’s Anna Danilina before bidding goodbye in Dubai, where she has been living for more than a decade.

"I was going to stop right after the WTA Finals, because we were going to make the WTA Finals, but I tore my tendon in my elbow right before US Open so I had to pull out of everything," Mirza was quoted as saying by WTA.

"And honestly, the person that I am, I like to do things on my own terms.

"So I don’t want to be forced out by injury.

"So I’ve been training.

"The plan is to try and retire in Dubai during the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships."

Mirza won the Arjuna Award, the second-highest sporting honour of India, in 2004.

In 2006, she was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India.

She also has a Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, which she won in 2016.