Quest continues: Aisam still confident of winning grand slam

Tennis ace recently made it to Wimbledon semis before crashing out.

KARACHI: Aisamul Haq Qureshi, Pakistan’s only current player on the ATP tour, is proud of his recent run at the 2016 Wimbledon where he reached the mixed doubles’ semi-final with Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova.

The 36-year-old veteran and his partner fought neck and neck for a berth in the finals before Robert Farah and Anna-Lena Groenefeld broke their serve late in the third and sealed a 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 win.

“Shvedova missed only two points but unfortunately they were at the most inopportune time,” Aisam told The Express Tribune. “Having said that, she reached the quarter-finals in the singles event then made women’s doubles final and was practically playing a match every single day.”

He continued: “Despite so many commitments she stuck to her word and played with me, for which I’m very grateful to her.”

Quest for a grand slam win

While Aisam is disappointed with the defeat, he remains committed to winning a grand slam for Pakistan.

“I’ll win a grand slam, it is a quest for me,” said Aisam. “It was a tough loss for me, but we had a great tournament. You have to take the positives and move on. I’m healthy and strong and there are more tournaments ahead.”

Two new partners

Aisam will next be in action in Hamburg alongside world number 12 Daniel Nestor, while his partner for the US circuit will be world number 32 Robert Lindstedt.

He expressed his satisfaction with the choice of his doubles partners and thanked Lindstedt for agreeing to play with him this summer.

“Lindstedt is a good friend and I’m excited to be playing with him, it is the best for me given the availability of the players,” said Aisam.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 11^th, 2016.

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