Are Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik  separated
One of South Asia's most popular celebrity couples, Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik, reportedly split up. — Mirzasaniar on Instagram

One of South Asia's most popular celebrity couples, Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik, are apparently no longer together after 12 years of marriage.

Gulf News said that "the Indian tennis star and her Pakistani cricketer husband are co-parenting their son, Izhaan Mirza-Malik."

Despite attempts to contact Sania's management team, they declined to respond, the publication continued. Shoaib Malik was contacted by Geo Report to corroborate the news, but he ignored the message despite viewing it.

On social media, rumours about the tragic news had been swirling about for nearly a week. After Sania started posting images of herself with her son without naming or mentioning her husband, internet users began to speculate that the pair had broken up.

She also shared a number of inspirational and depressing phrases on Instagram, which added to the rumours. Netizens are very saddened by the news, although the pair hasn't made a formal statement about it.

Such rumours have propagated before, so this isn't the first time it's happened. In 2012, the pair was going through a difficult time and had almost ended their relationship. But Shoaib and Sania ultimately decided to stay together after working out their differences.