After reaching the Wimbledon quarter-finals for the first time in his career, Pakistan’s ace player Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi is confident that he and his doubles partner Rohan Bopanna can go all the way.
Speaking to Dawn.com from London, Aisam said it was an unbelievable feeling to have made it to the last 16 at tennis’ most prestigious tournament. “It was one of the greatest days of my career. I had my parents in the crowd, we had a lot of support and were playing some good tennis,” said the 30-year-old.
Having played with Prakash Amritraj in last year’s Wimbledon, Aisam opted to team-up with Rohan as the two had played together at a number of tournaments before the summer grand slam.
“Rohan and I make a great team. We are close friends off-court and understand each other really well on it.”
The Indo-Pak pair have improved their individual rankings in the last few weeks and aim to continue playing together for the rest of the year.
“I am really thankful to Rohan for helping me improve my ranking. We are getting better after each tournament so it only makes sense for us to stick together,” he said.
While Aisam and Rohan had to fight hard in their first and second round matches, they breezed past Lucas Lacko and Sergiy Stakhovsky in the third round. The Slovak-Ukrainian pair had beaten number three seeds Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy. “We played really well yesterday and I believe most of it has to do with our self-belief. After we had overcome tough opponents in the first two rounds, Rohan and I started feeling more confident and played the better tennis on the day.”
Being a grass-court expert, Aisam has done considerably well at Wimbledon in the last few years. He entered the men’s singles second round in 2007, only to lose out to former world number one Marat Safin. In doubles, Aisam has reached the last 16 on two previous occasions, 2002 and 2009.
Speaking for his partner, Aisam said grass is also the preferred surface for Rohan as he grew up playing on grass courts in India.
The two South Asian tennis stars hail from countries that are arch-rivals but their on-court success has managed to bring together Indian and Pakistani fans. “How many times do you see Indians and Pakistanis cheering for the same team? It’s wonderful to see them sitting together in the stands, cheering for us,” said the man who is also part of a campaign that aims to promote peace through tennis.
“We are not on a mission or anything, we just want to show that if an Indian and a Pakistani can be together on a tennis court, why not anywhere else?”
