For a tennis pro, the grass doesn’t get greener than at Wimbledon. And Asians, willing to play out of their skins and pack in enough self-belief, shouldn’t be deterred by their paltry presence in tennis’ top-200, reckons Pakistan’s Aisam Qureshi. The 27-year-old leads the hard-working, modestly-traveling pack of professionals from the sub-continent— alongside a clutch of Indians. And after reaching a career-high of 155 on the back of an eventful summer in Europe—capped by the second round appearance at Wimbledon— Qureshi insists that somewhere on the way to convincing themselves that all self-doubting is cerebral-tosh, he and his peers lose the plot in the mind. “We Asians tend to under-estimate ourselves. We have decent games, but tennis is a lot mental today—Rohan’s also realised that. The key is to stay away from injury,” Qureshi says, while camped in Mumbai for the Kingfisher Open. The man, of course, had the standout serve and volley on grass to push his stakes from the 400s at the beginning of 2007 to his current 157. Having shared a four-tournament title streak in doubles with Bopanna over the summer, Qureshi has figured what sheer confidence can do to players. “In doubles, we’ve been going on court with the mind-frame that we won’t lose Now it’s about carrying the same attitude into singles,” he says of the duo’s 16-match winning run. Qureshi’s own roller-coaster saw the former top-10 junior claiming current world number 14 and Mumbai’s star-draw Richard Gasquet and downing another top-50 player Mardy Fish either side of Wimbledon. Qureshi and Bopanna plan to play together in Mumbai, for the first time in front of a truly ‘home crowd.’ “Mumbai’s been good to me, as has Delhi where I won 4 of my 6 Futures. Playing with India’s top singles man, I better help him defend his points as finalist from last year!” Qureshi says affably, hoping he can shrug off by Saturday the elbow injury that kept him out of the US Open. Qureshi’s commitment to Davis Cup—where he is in fact Pakistan’s three-day plodder —has been a source of gripe with his critics. “The pressure’s different. I always give more than 100 per cent because you don’t want to let your team down. “I’d be doing much better on the Tour if I’d been able to play with the same intensity I display in Davis Cup,” he laughs. Aiming for a Top-100 by year-end and a probable entry into Australian Open, Qureshi is content with the way the year’s progressed.
