Tennis in Pakistan

Tennis is not a very popular sport and Pakistanis compete in very few international events. The Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) organise the game in the country.

History

Khawaja Saeed Hai was the first Pakistani to reach a Grand Slam tournament, playing at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the French Open where he made it to the third round. Haroon Rahim was a very successful player, he was the winner of a number of ATP Singles and Doubles titles. Lately, Aisam-ul-Haq created history in Pakistani tennis, as he reached the finals of 2010 US Open – Men's Doubles and 2010 US Open – Mixed Doubles.

The Pakistan Davis Cup team have previously reached the world group play-offs, with the help of Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, and Aqeel Khan, currently Pakistan's number one. Tennis events are very rare in Pakistan and there is hardly an international tennis event, apart from ATP tournaments.

Davis Cup

Pakistan Played its first Davis Cup Europe Zone Match against Switzerland at Montreux in 1948. Its first Davis Cup tie of Eastern Zone win was against Sri Lanka, with a score of 4-0, played by Munir Pirzada, Qutubudin Ahmed, Iftikhar Ahmed and Zulfiqar Rahim. Pakistan qualified for the Final of the Eastern Zone in 1984 by beating some of the strongest teams of the Asian Group: Malaysia in January 1984, Indonesia in March 1984 and Thailand in May 1984. Pakistan lost the final against Japan.

Due to the change in format of the Davis Cup Eastern Zone to Asia Oceania, Pakistan secured a place in Group-II in 1988. Pakistan again reached the Final but lost to Hong Kong.[1]

Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Aqeel Khan distinguished themselves in international tennis competitions when they beat strong teams such as New Zealand in 2004 and Thailand in 2005 and qualified for the World Group Playoff for the first time in the history of Pakistani Tennis.[2]

It was also one step away from qualifying for the World Group when losing the 1984 Eastern Zone Final against Japan.[3]

List of successful tennis players

Pakistan has produced many successful tennis players, particularly in the Devis Cup (Asia region). They include:[4]

Three Pakistani players have enjoyed notable success: Haroon Rahim who played Davis Cup at the age of 15 years, second Hamid-ul-haq who played Davis Cup till the age of 35 years and third Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi who is notable for playing longest Rubber for 5 hrs 20 minutes against Mark Nielson from New Zealand in September 2004 at Islamabad and longest tie also against New Zealand which lasted 16 hrs 20 minutes.[5][6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Pakistan Against Hong Kong
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ Davis Cup - Team - Pakistan (PAK)
  4. ↑ "Pakistan Tennis Federation". Dost Pakistan. Retrieved 25 June 2012.
  5. ↑
  6. ↑ "Qureshi achieves career-best ATP World Ranking". Dawn.com Sport (Urdu Edition). Retrieved 25 June 2012.
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