While Aisamul Haq grew in stature with every stride on international circuit in 2007, the national team’s relegation to Group III in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Zone for the first time ever was all that Pakistan could achieve during the year.

The team suffered two shock defeats at the hands of Philippines and Pacific Oceania in the Group II ties that pushed them down to a new low.

The back-to-back defeats came as no surprise after ace player Aisam declined to play for the nation. Had he spared some time for his motherland, the results would have been different.

Aisam’s sudden rise on tennis horizon was an awesome sight for his fans in the country. After qualifying for the Wimbledon, he eased to second round by disposing off Lee Childs, a British qualifier, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) in the opener. In doing so, he made headlines and became only the second Pakistani in 31 years after Haroon Rahim to win a match at Wimbledon.

However, Aisam’s dream run was cut short by former world No 1, Marat Safin, the 26th seed who notched up a 6-4, 6-2, 7-6 win in the next round.

In the run up to Wimbledon, Aisam, 27, knocked out Frenchman Richards Gasquet, ranked 11th in the world, 7-6 (10-8), 6-4 in the first round of the Halle Open in Germany.

Unfortunately, he made his exit losing to German No 1 Philipp Kohlschreiber 4-6, 3-6 in the next fixture.

In the Wimbledon qualifier, he fought tooth and nail eliminating Canadian No 1 Frank Dancevic, who is among the world top 100, in a four setter 4-6, 7-6 (11-9), 6-2, 7-6 (7-4).

Riding on the crest of a wave he also fought his way in the last eight in the Hall of Fame grasscourt tournament at Newport in the US.

First he stunned top seed Martin Fish (US) 6-3, 6-4 and later imposed a 7-6 (7-2), 5-7, 6-4 victory over Nathan Healey (Aus).

In the quarter-finals, he went down to Belgium’s Dick Norman 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

Together with Indian Rohan Bopanna the pair travelled across the world and produced positive results winning some and losing some doubles contests.

The pair is playing together for quite sometime since Aisam parted ways with Israel’s Amir Hadad which led to controversy back home. The Aisam/Amir duo had scaled new heights by reaching Wimbledon men’s doubles third round in 2002.

Aisam finally made himself available for the Indo-Pakistan tennis series towards the end of the year. The two Tests ended in a stalemate with visitors winning the opener 2-1 at Lahore and the hosts neutralised it with a 2-1 triumph at Islamabad. The return series will be played sometime this year.

In the absence of Aisam, three brothers — Aqeel, Jalil and Yasir — along with Asim Shafik formed the nucleus of Pakistan for the Asia Oceania zone group II first round tie against Philippines at Manila.

Pakistan’s downslide continued as Philippines thrashed them 4-1 in the opener.

In a bid to make amends the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) committed a blunder by appointing veteran Hameedul Haq as playing captain for the relegation tie against Pacific Oceania. Other members of the team were Shahzad Khan, Aqeel Khan and Jalil Khan.

After being 1-0 and 2-1 up Pakistan squandered the lead and were knocked out tasting a 2-3 defeat to be relegated to group III.

Pakistan also organised international Futures Satellite tournament — first leg at Islamabad and two at Lahore besides two ITF juniors ranking tournaments at Karachi.

True, Aisam has indeed taken a big leap in international ranking as he has reached 125th spot in the singles and 90th in the doubles rankings but at the same time if the game needs to be promoted in the country, players like him are required to be persuaded by the game’s controlling body to play in the domestic circuit.