Pakistan’s tennis star Aisam ul-Haq Qureshi will return home at the end of a watershed season on the ATP Tour which saw him become the first Pakistani and the first Muslim to end the calendar year among the top 8 in the world in terms of performance.
Aisam thus became the first Pakistani and first Muslim to participate in the year end ATP Masters Championship, along with partner Rohan Bopanna.
Aisam’s first title of the year came in June at the ATP Tour event in Halle, Germany, where Aisam and Bopanna overcame Robin Haase of the Netherlands and Milos Raonic of Canada in the final.
Aisam’s second title of the year came with a different partner, Austria’s Oliver Marach. In the finals of the PTT Thailand Open in Bangkok, they overcame the German pairing of Michael Kohlmann and Alexander Waske.
With his partner Bopanna returning from a short break, Aisam went on to win the ITF Stockholm Open in the Swedish capital by decimating Brazilians Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares.
Their biggest performance of the year, however, came at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Paris in early November. The Indo-Pak Express overcame two of the world’s leading teams on the way to the title, with a quarter final win over Michael Llodra and Zimonjic followed by a semi final victory over Nestor and Mirnyi, before overcoming a partisan crowd and the local favourites, Mahut and Benneteau, to lift their first ATP Masters 1000 Trophy.
All of this culminated in Aisam reaching a career high ATP Tour Doubles ranking of no. 8, and a career high team ranking of no. 5.
Off the court, Aisam continued his charitable work with the United Nations Development Programme and has been chosen by the UNDP to continue as their Goodwill Ambassador for flood relief efforts in Pakistan. The Pakistan Red Crescent Society also chose to honour Aisam by nominating him as their Youth Ambassador.
Aisam’s services to Pakistan tennis and his projection of a positive image for the country were honoured by the Government of Pakistan on Pakistan Day, when he became a recipient of the Sitara-e-Imtiaz.
Aisam is scheduled to arrive in Lahore at 04:45 AM on Sunday 27th November via flight PK-758 from London. He will remain in Lahore for three weeks.
