Aisam aims place in top 100 tennis ranking
Bureau Report

LAHORE—Pakistan’s celebrated tennis player, Aisam ul Haq is aiming to get a place in top 100 in world-wide ranking besides helping his team to regain a berth in Davis Cup World Group Qualifying Round. “These are two ambitions which I aim to fulfil but it is not be simple to accomplish “,he told APP in an interview here on Monday.
World number 135th in singles and 72nd in doubles, Aisam firmly believes to make progress step by step for turning his aims into reality. “The immediate task is to help Pak team to progress to Davis Cup Asia Oceania Group II and then concentrate on international circuit to better my ranking “,he said.
Aisam is a part of Pak team which will play Group III of Davis Cup in Teheran from April 8 in eight-nation tie. “Competition in Group III will be challenging as we will be playing back to back 6 ties (two singles and one double) in around 6 days and playing non stop tennis is always nerve wrecking as slight mistakes can let your team down “,he asserted. He expressed disappointment for Pakistan’s relegation to Group III before its history making performance of qualifying to “ World Group” , saying it was like touching the peak and then having a nose dive fall .
Aisam said this year is of greater significance for him, to reach his prime in tennis for accumulating place in top 100 and he will be under heavy load of responsibility for playing competitive tennis without much rest or break. “I had a nightmare start last year,starting from 430th low ranking but things shaped well in my way as I made it my best ranking of 12th by closing the year and now I am again upto a uphill task “,he added. On his way to highest ever ranking ,Aisam roared with a unmatched performance making short work of players in top 20 including Richard Gasquet,Paradon Srichappan, Marcos Dahgdatin and Wilferd Tsonga.
Aisam who was part of Pakistan’s success of reaching Group I and then World Group Qualifying in Davis Cup, said Pak team failed to retain its place because lack of a balanced team. “We have to have atleast four players of equal strength and potential to play in Davis Cup and reliance on one or two players can produce short term results not long term achievements “,he said.
“I always feel pride to be a part of Pak Davis Cup team as whatever today I have achieved in tennis is because of Pakistan and I want to see my team winning the Group III tie and then making a step forward next year for winning the Group II “,he said. Aisam said it is time to infuse fresh blood in Pakistan team to gel experience with youth. “ I always try to be a role model for the coming generation of tennis through my achievements and endeavour and I will keep doing the same until I feel fit making strides in the game “,he said answering a question when asked when will he be retiring from the game.
He said Pakistan Tennis Federation has built a modern tennis centre at Islamabad for the promotion of tennis and called for creating similar facilities at other cities to motivate youth to take tennis as a sport.
“We have to continue with our effort to organise junior level tournaments and it is the only way to identify new talent to fill the void as senior players cannot serve the game for a loner time”,he added.