Aisam looks to start afresh in Australia

Pakistan tennis ace focused on a better 2016 season with doubles partner Marray

KARACHI: Tennis ace Aisamul Haq Qureshi is looking forward to a better start next season at the Australian Open, which starts in January, after the current season saw him finish 37th in the ATP doubles individual rankings and miss out of the World Tour Finals for the first time in five years.

The Lahore-born needed to finish in the top-eight of either the singles or the doubles rankings to be eligible for the prestigious season-ending event at the O2 Arena in London.

However, the disappointment of not being part of the Tour Finals has not deterred the 35-year-old, who is looking forward to establishing a strong partnership with UK’s Jonathan Marray and winning some more titles in the coming year.

“It’s disappointing to miss the Tour Finals obviously,” Aisam told The Express Tribune. “But it only motivates me to do better next season. I’ll be pairing up with Marray as we’re getting a hang of each other’s game and have also won a tournament together.”

Aisam, who had to change partners 10 times this season, managed to win the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in the US with Marray and the Aix en Provence Open in France with Robin Haase.

The 2010 US Open finalist also revealed that he would be training in Singapore with coach Robert Davis to acclimatise himself for Australia.

“Currently, I am not dealing with any injuries or defending any master’s title so there is no pressure as such and I am looking forward to a good start in Australia. We’ll be training in Singapore as it will be too cold to train in Pakistan in December,” said Aisam.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2015.

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