Qureshi Gives Pakistan A New Sport to Ponder
By Liz Clarke
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 29, 2007; Page E03
WIMBLEDON, England, June 28 -- For four years, Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi tried to qualify for Wimbledon, and each time he fell short.
Few in Pakistan followed his pursuit. Qureshi wasn't a cricket player, after all. And even though grass was his favorite surface, he had only started playing tennis at 14, so his ambition of earning a spot in the 128-player draw seemed farfetched.
But Qureshi added a new tack to his training regimen in January, each day writing the phrase, "I want to qualify for Wimbledon," after reading that Billie Jean King had advised Martina Navratilova to do just that decades ago. So no matter what else he did, every day he wrote the phrase.
And Thursday, Qureshi found himself trading blows with former world No. 1 Marat Safin at the All England club as shouts of "Come on!" and "Well done!" in Urdu rained down from the bleachers.
Safin won, 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4). And Qureshi, 27, walked off deservedly pleased.
He had won four matches to get this far: three to qualify and a first-round match to earn his meeting with Safin. He was the lowest-ranked man (279th) to reach Wimbledon's second round this year. And he was only the second Pakistani man ever to get that far, following Haroon Rahim in 1975 and '76.
"Tennis has given me a way to make my parents proud of me, and that's a really big thing for me," said Qureshi, who wore a shirt donated by tournament officials because his only shirt had too much blue in it to pass Wimbledon's strict dress code.
Qureshi plays a serve-and-volley style that's rarely seen anymore. It was his first match against a former No. 1, and he was stunned by Safin's ability to return balls that he felt were winners.
His only previous experience at Wimbledon came in 2002, when he teamed with Amir Hadad of Israel to compete in doubles. They paired again at the U.S. Open that year, and both were honored with the ATP's Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award that year.
"I still stand with the point that I really believe: You shouldn't mix politics, religion or color into sports," Qureshi said. "If I take a stand against a Jewish player, next thing I know all the Christians and Jews or Indians take a stand against me, and then I can't play the sport."
His singles match Thursday wasn't televised in Pakistan, but Qureshi said he suspected many watched it on home computers. And he hopes what they saw will persuade Pakistani officials to build the national tennis center that has been in the planning stages for years.
"By the time it's going to be complete, probably I'm going to retire," he said. "I have to do my job on the tennis court so maybe the government [will] think there's another sport besides cricket. Hopefully this week I've done good for some other people, also."
Source : Washington Post
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