Aqeel hails ATT events, targets tours abroad next year

Pakistan’s top-ranked tennis player finished season in third place

KARACHI: Pakistan’s top tennis player Aqeel Khan is targetting more Asian Tennis Tour (ATT) tournaments next year after he finished the season with four title wins and a total earning of $2,700 in the last quarter of 2016.

ATT tournaments were introduced this year as a parallel circuit to cater to those players who could not feature in ATP tours and Aqeel, who managed to earn 48 points and earn a third-place finish in the ATT rankings, feels the experiment is going well.

“It has been a good experience and it has motivated us; it is nice to be ranked third by the end of the season. I’ve played all the ATT tournaments in Islamabad, hence I’d like to go to other countries and perform there at ATT as well. My goal will be to improve or at least maintain the current ranking next season,” Aqeel told The Express Tribune.

The ATT offered the prize-money of $5,000 each in the first four events that took place in the country, while the winner got 12 points for the win and Aqeel believes that the incentive to earn money can motivate the younger players.

“It is a reasonable cash reward for beginners,” said Aqeel. “We don’t generally earn much from national tournaments so with these ATT tournaments, the younger players will get to improve their game and earn a bit of money as well.”

Aqeel further said that he was impressed by some of the young players who challenged him on the court. “Muzammil Murtaza has shown a lot of improvement; he reached the final in one of the events. I also see a lot of U14 players performing well, but they need to keep at it in order to become professional athletes.”

The Asian Tennis Federation had also asked the players to give their feedback on the first year of the ATT and Aqeel suggested that the tournaments should be stretched over four days instead of three.