French Open: Title or bust for Aisam

Pakistan needs to win grand slam to qualify for Olympics.


Natasha Raheel May 26, 2012

KARACHI:


Aisamul Haq Qureshi is eyeing the French Open men’s doubles title in order to fulfil his Olympics dream, knowing that his self-belief will land him the title and a ticket to London.


Aisam’s individual doubles ranking has fallen to 16th, but the Pakistani believes that it is still possible for him to qualify for the Olympics for which he needs to be ranked in the top-10.

He needs 1,470 ranking points in the French Open to achieve that as he looks to improve on his quarter-finals appearance at Roland Garros last year.

“In my experience, I’ve learnt that self-belief wins you the grand slams,” Aisam told The Express Tribune from Paris. “I’ve reached a final before and I’m very confident I can do it again. Rojer [his partner] and I are prepared. We’re working hard and improving as a team, which is the most important thing. I have my eyes set on the final that’s what I need to get into the Olympics. It’s my dream to represent Pakistan there and I’m not giving up on it easily.

“It’s important to have faith as a team. I’m in the same state of mind that I was during the US Open. It’s my belief and hard work that will help me. The rest depends on fate.”

Aisam added that clay has always been a tricky surface as the pair tries to improve its game on it before confirming that he will be sticking with Rojer this year, ruling out a move back with Rohan Bopanna.

“Bopanna’s doing very well right now. This year he’ll be playing in the London Masters and that’s my goal too.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27th, 2012.

COMMENTS (3)

Zohaib Irfan | 11 years ago | Reply

Goodluck Aisam!!

habibullah baig | 11 years ago | Reply

we all love u and pray for ur entry and success in London olympics. Keep the flag up man.

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