Abid Ali Akbar — Pakistan’s next emerging tennis hope

KARACHI: Tennis may not be one of Pakistan’s historical or eagerly sought-after sports, but the country has fielded teams in the Davis Cup — the world’s premier international team event — since 1948.

Pakistan has produced many notable players who competed in the event, with the duo of Aisamul Haq Qureshi and Aqeel Khan currently representing the nation — lying in Group II of the Asia-Oceania Zone — for the past many years.

Aisam has the honour of achieving the most wins in singles (34) and doubles (23) for Pakistan in the Davis Cup, while Aqeel has played the most ties (43).

While the pair will probably remain the Pakistan Tennis Federation’s (PTF) first unanimous choice for at least a few more years, the end of their playing days is approaching slowly but surely.

One possible replacement for the veterans, who made his presence felt last month in Sri Lanka in his Davis Cup debut is Abid Ali Akbar.

Although the 25-year-old was unable to win his singles match in the country’s first round against Kuwait, which Pakistan eventually won 3-2 courtesy of Aisam and Aqeel, he pushed the opponents’ top seed Muhammad Ghareeb to five sets before finally losing.

Once the dust settled after three days of action in Colombo’s clay courts, Aqeel commented that considering it was his debut, Abid’s performance was a bigger surprise than Pakistan’s progress to the second round.

In Aqeel’s words, the national team has another player to count on now. “It had always been me and Aisam,” Aqeel told The Express Tribune. “But this was great. We didn’t know what to expect when we decided to field Abid for one of the reverse singles, but he surprised us all by taking the match to five sets. It was impressive.”

Bringing US experience home

Abid credited his performance to his six-year experience at the University of Idaho. The youngster played in juniors’ tournaments in Islamabad before moving to the US.

Apart from being selected for the Davis Cup, Abid was also given a chance to reunite with his old friend Ahmed Chaudhry, 21, who was made a part of the national squad for the first time.

“I was born and bred in Pakistan, so wearing its colours is an honour,” said Abid. “It’s the highlight of my tennis career. And it’s more meaningful as my father Muhammad Ali Akbar also coached and captained Pakistan team in the 1990s.”

He added that clay court has always been his favourite surface.

“I’m comfortable on clay because I played at the PTF court in Islamabad regularly with Ahmed until I was 18,” said Abid. “However, when I went to the US, I got used to the hard courts as well. My game relies more on long rallies and long points.”

The Islamabad-based player said that it was while playing for the University of Idaho that he decided to pursue a career in tennis. “I want to take up tennis as a profession,” said Abid, who played his first International Tennis Federation (ITF) Futures events last year in October and November, three in Turkey and three in Egypt.

The youngster added, “When I came to Idaho, I realised that whatever I played in Pakistan was next to nothing. It was almost like being back to square one for me, but I refused to let it discourage me and I started observing how the athletes there prepare and work for strength and endurance and perform professionally. It helped that my college team had three players who were playing in ATP events, so I learned well.”

Abid said that he is happy to be a part of the team where he got to spend time with seniors like Aisam and Aqeel while having a friend like Ahmed on his side. “It’s a great feeling. I learned a lot from Aisam, he is a living legend,” he said.

The promising player has set his goals beyond Davis Cup, as he plans to participate in more ITF events and continue his practice in the US while working closely with his University tennis team.

 

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