While the PTF officials are too busy touting their children as the future of tennis
This was to be a piece on the state of Pakistan tennis. But first, a couple of transitions that merit honourable mention.
In his youth, Khalid Hassan fancied himself as a tear away fast bowler at the Pindi Club nets. He caught the eye of an Englishman who, considering his diminutive physique, urged him to try spin. He promised to give Khalid a cricket ball whenever he needed one. Khalid quickly became a precocious wrist spinner, bowling a variety of leg breaks, googlies and the flipper. And it was with the flipper, he once told me, that he dismissed the rampaging Dennis Compton with when the batsman was nearing triple hundred during the 1954 Test series. Earlier in the innings he had had Compton stranded half way down the pitch only for the ‘keeper to fumble the ball. Several chances went down as well. Fielding, he said, was not high on the list of priorities in those days. He also spoke of Frank Tyson, who was so fast that the batsmen used to scramble byes because the ‘keeper was so far back. Tyson eventually broke his finger. All this was done with no helmet or arm or thigh pad.
This was to be Khalid Hassan’s high point of his cricketing career. Business training in England meant that he could only play on weekends and Trevor Bailey and Doug Insole would come by and take him along for the matches. A man of considerable charm and humility, Khalid had been ailing for some time and only recently returned to be reunited with his family. Rest in Peace.
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‘If PTF raises money for tennis development, it should not be player specific. The money should be raised for the greater good and all resources should be pooled together and the most deserving players should get the opportunity.’
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Dr Farrakh Ahmed Khan was a first class cricketer, following a family tradition where three cousins captained Pakistan, his uncle was on the first All India cricket team and his father was good enough to make a fifty against a visiting international team. A nippy fast medium bowler, Farrakh had a limited first class career. But he had a different claim to fame in the cricket arena. Recently Cricinfo quoted Pakistan fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz with crediting Dr. Farrakh with inventing reverse swing. Apart from cricket, he was a man of varied interests, a urologist, historian, researcher as well as a keen sportsman. He had just finished a book on Murree which was launched a few days before he passed away. Dr. Farrakh will be missed.
One is tempted to also write about tennis in a similar mournful vein, but hope springs eternal even though what one might see is a veritable wasteland. Pakistan tennis has been going through a traumatic year, with the Davis Cup default taking the cake. It was an abysmally handled situation, where the tie was held on an untried court, with the two Pakistani officials present there, earning money both from the PTF and the ITF. This conflict of interest and the fact that these two would not know a playable tennis court if it stared them in the face, resulted in the biggest fiasco in our tennis history.
Apart from the loss of the tie and huge amount of money, it was the distasteful rhetoric of Pakistan tennis officials that has left an extremely bad taste in the mouth, not only domestically, but also internationally. Instead of accepting responsibility and taking corrective measures, the same rot is being allowed to set in. Pakistan, as a direct result of this, has no players to replace Aqeel and Aisam who have been representing the country since the nineties.
The Dilawar Abbas period was a black hole and one had hoped for something better with the current dispensation, but, under the surface, it is still the same people pulling the strings and pulling Pakistan tennis to the bottom just because of their greed and avarice.
The trials for the next Davis Cup tie against Vietnam were held when two of Pakistan’s best young players could not appear because they were playing college tennis in the USA and their university holidays started in mid December. Surprisingly, the trials were held three months before the tie, something that has never happened before. A fifth player was added. Tennis experts say that when a fifth player is added to a Davis Cup team, it is usually a youngster who is being groomed for the future. Selecting a boy who is closer to 30 years old than to 20, as the fifth player, reeks of nepotism. Similarly, in the Under 14 the same sense of partiality is all pervading.
Tennis watchers see no hope for the future because of these doings. They feel that if PTF raises money for tennis development, it should not be player specific. The money should be raised for the greater good and all resources should be pooled together and the most deserving players should get the opportunity. Unfortunately, the PTF officials are only too busy touting their children as the future of tennis.
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‘The money saved from one or two unnecessary joyrides could run an entire year’s programme at the PTF Complex. If the PTF would only open two cans of balls a day and invite the talented youngsters to come and play unlimited tennis every day, players would emerge on their own.’
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The PTF tennis complex is a great facility where tennis development should be taking place rather than the strictly commercial money gouging type coaching that is going on. The money that could be saved from one or two unnecessary joyrides could run an entire year’s programme at the PTF Complex. If the PTF would only open two cans of balls a day and invite the talented youngsters to come and play unlimited tennis every day, players would emerge on their own. The PTF could provide the stringing as well as tennis shoes. All this equipment could easily be raised through sponsors. Not much coaching would be required. Mentoring should be the key.
It is important that PTF’s limited resources and fund raising is utilized fairly. To give White Badge umpires air tickets and hotel stay when they are actually working for the ITF and earning dollars from them, speaks volumes for duplicity. It is no wonder that fiascos like the Davis Cup default happened. Currently, all the Federation’s money is being wasted on trying to make champions out of players who have no ability. There is no point flogging horses that are clearly dead in the water.
There is some local talent among our youngsters. Prominent among them are the boys from Jahanian Mudassir and Muzammil and the two Attique brothers, Arham and Amman. Young Amman shows very good potential. It remains to be seen whether PTF realizes its responsibilities and gives them a level playing field. Their past track record is not encouraging.
