Asian Tennis players' thread ...

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Re: Asian Tennis players' thread ...

Post by jaydeep »

Aisam climb up to #125 in singles ATP ranking and remains on #90 in doubles ranking.
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Re: Asian Tennis players' thread ...

Post by jaydeep »

Aisam's interview with Prajwal Hegde from Chennai Open ... Copying full interview from e-paper as not founf web link for this article.
TOI wrote:Olympics is the big goal: Qureshi
Prajwal Hegde | TNN

Chennai: In a volatile society like the one we live in today, politics and patriotism are two sides of the same coin. More so if you play professional sport.

Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, the flag bearer of Pakistan tennis, struggled in silence through the rioting and bloodshed that followed former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto’s death. He missed the qualifying competition of the Chennai Open and was forced to focus only on the doubles this week.

However, when it comes to goals for the year, his primary objective is to win his country a singles berth in the Beijing Olympic Games.

Qureshi has penned his inspirational progress in a little black book he has maintained for the last 12 months. His first entry read: I have to qualify for Wimbledon. Every day for the first six months of 2007, he religiously wrote those six words. In late June the strapping Lahore-born Qureshi came through the qualifiers, won a round and went down to Russian Marat Safin in the second round at the All England Club. The little black book has a new one word mantra in it this season — Olympics.

“My first goal is to crack the top-100 in singles,” he said. “My main goal is to play the main draw in all the Grand Slams and represent my country in the Olympics. The Olympic Games is the big goal for me this year. For that, I have to be top-100 in singles and I’m only 25 spots away. I’ll do my level best to get into the Olympics. That is the big thing for me this year.”

Qureshi, 27, ranked 125 in the world, said he’s a different player today than he was six months ago. “I’m approaching the game in a different manner now. I started taking it one day at a time. It’s paying off. Before I used to underestimate my potential and my game. Now I go all out every day. It is paying off. I’m looking forward to the new season, I’m sure it is going to be better than 2007,” Qureshi said. The Pakistani Davis Cupper, who did his preseason training in Bangalore along with Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza, said the turnaround happened in Halle in early June. He survived the qualifying competition and then got his first big scalp when he downed world No. 8 Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the first round.

When I used to play against higher-ranked players I used to give them too much respect,” Qureshi said. “I think beating (Richard) Gasquet in Halle gave me the breakthrough. After that match I really started believing in myself and I have never looked back. I think every body needs that one break. Once that happens you start believing in yourself more.

While singles remains Qureshi’s number one goal, he has realistic doubles dreams too, playing alongside the explosive India No. 1 Rohan Bopanna. “Playing and winning in doubles adds to my confidence. It has helped me in singles as well,’ Qureshi said.

Last year Rohan and I played eight tournaments together, we made seven finals and won four. The winning ratio is unbelievable. I believe that if we keep playing well in bigger tournaments we can do well together. I’m looking forward to the Aussie Open. I’m sure we can do some damage.
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Re: Asian Tennis players' thread ...

Post by PKBasu »

Great interview with Aisam! The message is quite clear: single-minded focus and determination ultimately pays off. Kudos to all that he has achieved in the past year. I have no doubt that he will play all the Slams (except perhaps the FO) and the Olympics this year.
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Re: Asian Tennis players' thread ...

Post by 10nis_ace »

Ratiwatana twins continue their steady progress in 2008. They are in their third semifinal of the year at Memphis ATP. Chennai(title) and San Jose being the other two. They got better of Lipsky/Martin 6-4, 7-5 in the QF. Quite a sweet revenge for them this week. They had lost to Lipsky/Martin in San Jose last week.

From the ATP site:
The Ratiwatanas converted two of 10 break points and dropped just 11 points on serve to seal the victory in 1hr., 6mins. The win avenges their loss to Lipsky/Martin in the San Jose semifinals last week and sets them up a semifinal meeting with fourth-seeded Brazilian duo Melo/Sa.

Ranked No. 49 in the Stanford ATP Doubles Rankings, the 26-year-old Ratiwatanas are bidding for their second title of the season, having claimed their second career title in Chennai at the start of the campaign (d. Baghdatis/Gicquel). The duo upset second seeds Jonas Bjorkman and Kevin Ullyett in the first round in Memphis this week.
They have a very good chance to move into the final.
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Re: Asian Tennis players' thread ...

Post by sameerph »

After their losses in davis cup on grass , Japanese young guns are making headlines in the challenger circuit. Last week. Go Soeda won the $75 K(+H) Bushan challenger & this week unseeded Kei Nishikori upset 3 seeds ( top 100 players) to win the $ 100K (+H) Bermuda challenger on clay.

Soeda is now ranked 128 while Kei Nishikori has broken into top 100 at 99.
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Re: Asian Tennis players' thread ...

Post by arjun2761 »

Yes, these Japanese players are improving pretty quickly.  I expect Nishikori is on his way to becoming a top-30 player while Go Soeda should also crack the top 100. 

Next time around, our grass court specialists will have tough time beating them even on grass.  Though, in a 2-3 years we may also have legitimate singles players in Somdev and Yuki.
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Re: Asian Tennis players' thread ...

Post by sameerph »

Aisam is having a good run at Campos do Jordao challenger, Brazil.

[R1] Aisam Qureshi (PAK) d. Andrew Coelho (AUS) 6-3 6-4
[R2] Aisam Qureshi (PAK) d. (6) Joao Souza (BRA) 6-7(1) 7-6(5) 6-2
[QF] Aisam Qureshi (PAK) d. Daniel Silva (BRA) 7-6(5) 7-6(5)

[SF] Aisam Qureshi (PAK) v. Izak van der Merwe (RSA)

Last week at Belo Horizonte challenger , Aisam lost in singles QF against 3rd seed Leonardo Meyer but won the doubles title alongwith Santiago Gonzalez.
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Re: Asian Tennis players' thread ...

Post by PKBasu »

Kei Nishikori is undoubtedly the new Asian star. To make the PQF of the US Open at age 18 is very impressive, and he looks like a really good prospect. Hopefully, Yuki will look like an even better prospect two years hence...And next year, Somdev will take his rightful place in the US Open QF.

The surprising thing, though, is that he is the first Japanese to make R4 at the US Open in the open era (i.e., the last 40 years). Ironically most of the best Japanese players of that period (Shuzo Matsuoka, Takao Suzuki) were more comfortable on grass (but never comfortable enough to beat Indian players on Indian grass in DC!). Nishikori already has a ranking that is better than Suzuki's career-best (102) but well short of Matsuoka's (46).
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Re: Asian Tennis players' thread ...

Post by Rajiv »

hi, could anyone help me vote on the aisam querishi poll , cannot figure out how to reach there
thanks...
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Re: Asian Tennis players' thread ...

Post by Omkara »

Great Britain F2 - AEGON International Sheffield
Sheffield, Great Britain
January 19-25, 2009
Surface: Carpet (Indoor)
Main Draw : 32
Qualifying Draw: 64
$15,000

First Round
q)Tim Bradshaw (1125,GBR) d. (2)(q)Aisam Qureshi (PAK) 6-4 6-0

Whats wrong with Aisam? Is he not very good on Carpet? Still a shocking loss
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Re: Asian Tennis players' thread ...

Post by PKBasu »

This is definitely a shocking loss. Indoor carpet is a surface that should definitely suit Aisam's serve and volley game, but he is probably very rusty from not playing competitively for a very long time.
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Re: Asian Tennis players' thread ...

Post by Peter »

<sigh> Looking at that poll above (both the question and the responses), i don't know whether to laugh or cry. And this is going to run for the next 28 years?

Would a moderator be kind enough to take it off? Thanks..

Edited - Ok, poll is removed ... :) - Jaydeep
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Re: Asian Tennis players' thread ...

Post by PKBasu »

Aisam (with Jamie Delgado) was also top-seeded in doubles at the Sheffield Futures, but lost in the SF. He really needs to get back with an Indian partner if he wants to restore the vibrancy of his doubles career...
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Re: Asian Tennis players' thread ...

Post by PKBasu »

Aisam is still plugging away in both singles and doubles on the Challenger tour. He is still ranked in the top-100 (94 to be precise) in doubles, helped by a couple of Challenger titles (one with Bopanna in Thailand, another in Kyoto with Slanar) and a couple of Challenger finals as well this year.
But he is going nowhere fast in singles, having won just won one Challenger main draw match this year -- until this week in Busan, where he has won his second main draw Challenger singles match of the year, and is also seeded 2 in doubles (partnering Kristian Pless).
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Re: Asian Tennis players' thread ...

Post by suresh »

I have not understood why Aisam has been struggling in singles -- he has the game to do well on grass and hard courts.
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