Owais Mughal
UPDATE June 26: Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq won his first round Wimbledon match beating Briton Lee Childs 6-3 6-4 7-6. His second round match is a much tougher game where he will meet former Russian No. 1, Marat Safin . According to Guardian Unlimited, the 27-year-old from Lahore said after the game: “I am living my dream. Ever since I started playing, I wanted to play Wimbledon… I was very loose and relaxed on court today,” he said. “I don’t think Lee expected me to come out today so pumped up and fired up.”
ORIGINAL POST:
The news is 3 days old, but important enough that we are compelled to write about it here. Pakistan’s top tennis star Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi on Thursday created history by becoming the Third Pakistani ever to qualify for Wimbledon men’s singles.
This moment has arrived for Pakistanis after a gap of 31 years. The first man to represent Pakistan at Wimbledon singles was Khwaja Saeed Hai who qualified for the main round of Wimbledon for 3 consecutive years, viz. 1954, 1955 and 1956. The last man to represent Pakistan at Wimbledon singles was Haroon Rahim in 1976.
Aisam hit the limelight after winning third and final qualifying round against Canadian No 1 Frank Dancevic in a four-set thriller, lasting two hours and 50 minutes, 4-6, 7-6 (11-9), 6-2, 7-6 (7-4). In Wimbledon 2007, as of June 26, Aisam has already won his first match against Britain’s Lee Childs by 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 and will now face Marat Safin of Russia in Round two.
It runs in the Family:
Aisam‘s mother Mrs Nausheen Ehtesham is also a tennis player and won first of her several Pakistan ladies singles title in 1982. She has also represented Pakistan in the Fed Cup, the women’s version of the Davis Cup.
Her father Khawaja Iftikhar Ahmad was also an all-India tennis champion who represented both India and Pakistan in the Davis Cup. Aisam‘s mother will travel to London to see her son play in the first round of Wimbledon men’s singles on Monday.
Aisam‘s mother told him before thursday’s match:
“Go all out whoever you play, even if it’s Roger Federer, and don’t get overawed by big names.” She further said: “It’s not difficult — and since he is in the same draw as Federer, I pray he gets a chance to play the world number one. It is a cherished moment for us. Aisam has made the whole nation proud.”
The player’s father Mr. Ehtesham Qureshi said his son was progressing fast.
“Aisam‘s performance at Halle international earlier this month was superb and beating Richar Gasquet of France was the highlight of his career. I see him going up and up….The first thing he did after qualifying was to send us our tickets.”
Aisam has had a successful career in Junior tennis, where he finished at No. 11 in the world in 1998. That made him Pakistan’s highest-ranked player ever on the international youth tennis arena. After turning pro in 1998, he mostly played Challenger tournaments, and played on the Pakistan Davis Cup team.
Aisam teamed with Israeli player Amir Hadad during Wimbledon and the US Open tournaments in 2002. Together, they were eliminated at the 3rd round of Wimbledon, and then and the Second round at the US Open. Together, they also won the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year award for playing together despite pressure from their communities.
Aisam has retained level of successes and is the number one player of Pakistan who has won quite a few Davis Cup ties in recent years.
Following is some of the tennis related information and player profile of Aisam. Note that the statistics below are true as of June 23, 2007:
Birthdate: 17 March 1980
Birthplace and Residence: Lahore, Pakistan
Current 52 week rank for singles: 259
Current ATP Champions Race Position: 158
Current Doubles Rank: 254
High Rank for Singles: 181
High Rank date for Singles: 1 November 2004
High ATP Champions Race Position: 158
High ATP Champions Rac Position date: 18 June 2007
High Rank for doubles: 89
High Rank date for doubles: 19 May 2003
Career Matches Won: 17
Career Matches Lost: 12
Year to date matches won: 1
Year to date matches lost: 1
Career prize money: $246677 USD
Year to date prize money for singles: $21393 USD
Year to date prize money for doubles: $4044 USD
Height: 6-0
Weight: 172 lb
Turned Pro: 1998
Plays: Right
Back Hand: Right
Aisam on TV
The reason for Aisam‘s success may be his prowess as a tennis player; but it’s also his good looks that got him noticed. This fresh faced, pleasant looking young man was first spotted by Khawar Riaz for HUM TV. While tennis is Aisam‘s passion Khawar managed to rope in the guy for a shoot in his studios.Surprisingly it turned out quite well. The screen seemed to have instantly taken to this new find. Who knows while Aisam is busy making waves in sports, he may even be spotted modeling for various designers. With his kind of looks and attitude he’s sure to create a stir on that front too. One just has to wait and see.
References:
(1) Information for this post has been taken from the daily Dawn,
(2) Yahoo News
(3) Wikipedia
(4) An Ace Called Aisam, and
(5) The Official Website of Wimbledon 2007
Is anyone following Aisam’s latest exploits ? Yesterday, he beat American Mardy Fish, who was the top-seed and currently ranked world no. 38, in the Hall of Fame tennis championships in Newport. Then today, he beat an Australian to go through to the third round. There is no other big name in the tournament and Aisam is in good form. Could be his time to win a big one here ($416K prize which is twice his career earnings to date) !
Does anyone know how one can know where he wil be playing next. Want to follow his performances. Thx.
While we are at comparing cricket with an individual sport like tennis, I have to say that there is absolutely no comparison. In an individual sport, if you are not at 100%, you can’t even walk onto the court. On the other hand, in a team sport like cricket, your team can win a match while you sit in the pavilion half the time. I think even a club level player of tennis or squash is more fit than majority of cricketers at the national level. Guys like Jahangir and Jaansher dominated their sport for 15 years between them, because of their supreme mastery of the sport, but also because of their extreme fitness at the international level. That is why we are not able to replicate their achievements despite plenty of talent in the country. It takes commitment, and our new players are not committed to the same level. While the score may not look like it, but Aisam made Safin work to beat him. Let’s hope he can now qualify for US open, though the hard courts of the US may not be his favorite service. I was watching Wimbledon highlights on ESPN yesterday, and the commentators were talking about Safin’s second match with “Qureshi from Pakistan”, at which point there was a moment of silence, as if they were saying to each other; “Did we say that right”? They were totally surprised to see a Pakistani in Wimbledon’s second round. It is quite a remarkable achiement, because not too many countries are represented at this level. For example, despite this being Britain’s premier international event, only 1 Britain (Tim Henmann), made it to the 2nd round and lost. Let’s hope Qureshi can keep it going for a few more years.
Tennis is one sport where I would love to see a Pakistani excel, win some major title, that will be huge and do a lot to promote it in Pakistan, we need something better then cricket, i look at tennis players then our cricket players who bowl only 10 overs and yet are never fit. pathetic
It is good to see sportsmen other than cricketers emerging from the subcontinent. I am wondering how the facilities for tennis in Pakistan are. In India they were quite bad till some time back.