The South Asian pair was stretched to its limit by Philipp Marx of Germany and Igor Zelenay of Slovakia before posting a 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 13-11 second round victory in a marathon contest lasting more than four hours.
Supporting them in the crowd was none other than Indian tennis star Sania Mirza as well as friends and relatives of the two Indo-Pak players alongside an appreciative crowd.
The two players who also reached the third round at last year’s championships are promoting peace with their slogan of stop war, start tennis'.
Aisam and Bopanna along with Peace and Sport, a Monaco-based and neutral international organization that works towards bringing together divided communities worldwide by encouraging dialogue and reconciliation through sport, have decided to team up at this prestigious sporting event, in order to help and promote peace in their neighbouring countries.
They have decided to promote this initiative by designing specially made t-shirts and sweatshirts with the high impact slogan `Stop War, Start Tennis’. The T-shirt has been worn during training sessions, and the sweatshirt used when entering the court before play. Aisam, currently ranked 46th doubles player in the world, and Rohan, currently ranked 54th, have been friends for over ten years and have teamed up successfully for the last three years.
Joël Bouzou, President and Founder of Peace and Sport, said: ‘Rohan and Aisam are big stars in their respective countries. Their story of friendship through sports is a real inspiration for youngsters. By transmitting a message of peace, they hope to change the perception and attitudes in India and Pakistan as well as other areas of the world destabilized by conflict. We are extremely proud to support this message that will benefit from the extensive publicity that Wimbledon attracts.”
Former US and Wimbledon champion John McEnroe who was commenting on the matches for the BBC, described the initiative as excellent and said sports has always played a very important part in bringing countries together.
Aisam also figured in the mixed doubles with Alla Kudryavtseva of Russia but failed to progress further with 6-7, 3-6 loss to US pair of Bob Bryan and Lindsay Davenport in the first round.
In the third round Aisam and Bopanna face East European pair of LukasLacho of Slovakia and Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine.
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