Monday, November 8, 2010

Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi

Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi Born in Lahore, Pakistan, Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi is Pakistan's top professional tennis player and is ranked in top 50 doubles players. He is the only Pakistani tennis player to reach the final of a Grand Slam, which he has done in 2010 competing in both mixed doubles and men's doubles at the US Open

Like other pakistani boys, Aisam used to play cricket and soccer in his school. Along with that he started playing tennis as a hobby. It all started when he was 14 years old when his mother took him to the tennis club and they used to play with each other.

"I never thought I would be a professional tennis player when I started", says Aisam

When he turned to 16, he got into the ITF team which sponsored him for two years. This was the turning point of his life. Later on, he had a successful junior career he managed to get to No.7 (in juniors).

In 1998, Aisamul haq became world number 11 player in junior tennis. This achievement made him Pakistan's highest-ranked tennis player. By the time he had defeated several world junior champions including Andy Roddick (American), Taylor Dent (American), Artem Derepaasco, Simon Dickson (British), Oliver Rochus and Nathan Healy (Australian). After that, he mostly played Pakistan Davis Cup team and ATP tournaments and began appearing ITF tournaments all over the world. After winning plenty of titles, Aisam jumped to top 200 players of the world in men's single and was counted in top 100 in doubles.

In 2002, Aisam played with Israel's Amir Hadad in Wimbledon as well as in US Open. They got eliminated in the 3rd and 2nd round of wimbledon and US open respectively.

In 2007, Aisam became the third tennis player of Pakistan to qualify for the Wimbledon. Khwaja Saeed Hai was the first man to represent Pakistan at Wimbledon singles in 1954, 1955 and 1956. Then it was Haroon Rahim who played at Wimbledon in 1976.

Aisam is not the only Tennis player in his family. His mother Mrs Nausheen Ehtesham was also a tennis player winning Pakistan's several ladies single titles in 1982. She has also represented Pakistan in the Fed Cup, which is women’s version of the Davis Cup. Her father Khawaja Iftikhar Ahmad was also a tennis player who represented both Pakistan as well as India in Davis Cup. In response to the question asked in an interview about his entry into the Tennis, Aisam said, "Tennis is in my blood". It would not be wrong to say that Aisam inherited Tennis from his ancestors.

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