Injured Aqeel aims for next year’s Davis Cup

Pakistan’s top-ranked tennis player reluctant to undergo surgery

KARACHI: Despite a shoulder injury, Pakistan’s top singles player Aqeel Khan has set his eyes on the next year’s Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Group II round one against Kuwait.

Having recently returned from competing at the Asian Games and playing the Davis Cup Group II final against the Philippines last month, the seasoned player said his aim will be to recover from the injury in due time.

“It [the injury] is still there,” Aqeel told The Express Tribune. “At first, I wasn’t willing to play the Asian Games either, but I decided to go because the tournament was featuring top players from the continent.”

Even though Aqeel exited the Games’ singles event in the second round, he said that he was happy to lose to the highest ranked player in the tournament.

“Ly yen-Hsun was the highest ranked player in the tournament, he is 37th in the ATP rankings, so I wanted to play against him.”

Back home, Aqeel is still tackling the injury, but the treatment will continue for months.

“I’m not in pain because of the cortisol injection I received in Thailand, but my target is to strengthen my shoulder muscles, or else the last resort is to undergo an operation.

“It’s not something I’d want though. I’ve never seen any player competing with the same finesse after surgery. So I’ll try my best to avoid going under the knife. I’ll be focusing on training this month and competing locally.

“I feel like I’ve been six months behind everyone else on the circuit. I need to catch up,” concluded Aqeel.

He will be participating at the fourth Syed Tajammul Abbas Memorial Tennis Championship which will begin October 15 at the PTF Complex in Islamabad.

 

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