Aisam playing event in US after skipping Davis Cup

KARACHI: Pakistan’s tennis star Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi seems to have ignored national interest as he is playing a grass court championship in the United States after showing his unavailability for the Davis Cup tie against Indonesia.
Aisam excused himself from playing this crucial semi-final against Indonesia from July 14-16 “due to a knee injury” but surprisingly he is playing Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, United States.
In the quarter-final on Wednesday, the third seed duo of Jonathan Marray of UK and Aisam Qureshi defeated the pair of A Bury of Belarus and A Siljestrom of Sweden 6-3, 6-4.
In the first round on Tuesday, Marray and Aisam had smashed Netherlands’ W Koolhof and M Middelkoop 6-3, 6-3.
It is worth adding here that this event is held just after Wimbledon each year.
Aisam is playing this championship for the first time since 2009. He was finalist in 2008, which is his best doubles result in his three appearances in this event.
His early exit from Wimbledon created hopes that he would play the crucial Davis Cup tie against Indonesia but he declined citing a knee injury.
He was all fit to play Hall of Fame championship on the very day (July 14th) when Pakistani team started its tie in Indonesia.
“Perhaps Aisam wanted to avoid the hot conditions in Indonesia,” said a source associated with Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF). “And since he loves to play on grass court, he chose to play Hall of Fame championship. But it was good that Pakistan managed to win the tie despite Aisam’s unavailability,” he added.
Though Pakistan won the tie 3-1 against Indonesia, the team lost the doubles match.
Pakistan tennis authorities claimed after the victory that they had found good replacements for Aisam and Aqeel Khan in Abid Ali Akbar, who sealed Pakistan’s victory by winning the first singles on the last day, and Samir Iftikhar, who defeated Indonesia’s top player on the first day.
“This is

a wrong perception because everybody knows that Aisam with his injury could not play best-of-five sets in Davis Cup,” said Aisam’s father Ehtisham-ul-Haq while talking to ‘The News’. It would have been very dangerous for him, claimed the father. “And the reason why he is playing Hall of Fame championship is that it was suggested by his physios,” he added.
He added that Hall of Fame Championship had a different format like sets with tie-breaks and two-day gap between matches. “Aisam being a professional player had to engage himself in this activity. His physios of APT circuit are helping him recover,” reasoned Ehtisham.
He said everybody at PTF knew this and PTF president Salim Saifullah had met Aisam during Wimbledon and saw the bandages over his knees. “These are technical reasons and tennis professionals know this. So blaming Aisam for ignoring national interest is nonsense,” added Ehtisham.