Apologies for the delay in writing this blog. It’s just that I was really busy being married… married to tennis, that is.

It has been a very long and interesting summer and I will try and squeeze in as much as I can…from winning my first match in Paris to reaching the Wimbledon quarterfinals.

This year I was finally able to break the deadlock of losing in first round at the French Open. I think the two months that I spent playing various tournaments on clay eventually paid off at Roland Garros. Rohan and I beat Michel Russel and Fabio Fognini in first round before losing to home favourites Julian Bennetue and Michael Llodra in the second. Despite the second-round exit, I think the whole clay court season was a great learning experience and I felt totally ready and confident for my favourite time of the year (grass).

After jumping into top the 50 of ATP Doubles Ranking and having a really good clay season I was looking forward to playing on grass. And since grass is my favourite surface I find the transition from clay relatively easier than most players. But as is the case with most things in life, it didn’t turn out as planned. Rohan and I played two ATP events in Holland and Germany to prepare for Wimbledon and had early exits in both. In Germany, we lost to Marx and Zelany, who we ended up beating in Wimbledon. More on that later. Next came Holland, where we lost to eventual tournament champions (and Wimbledon finalists) Horea Tecau and Robert Lindstedt.

By the time we reached Hertogenbosch (Holland), I was into my 12th straight week on the road and felt physically and mentally drained out. I decided to go to London five days ahead of Wimbledon and took three days off to recharge my batteries, leave the last two weeks on grass behind and start afresh! The time off helped me a great deal as my body and mind were back to optimum.

While it was great having my parents in London to support me at Wimbledon, I prefer staying on my own during tournaments so I can have my own routine and it helps me to relax more as well. So I stayed at a hotel in Carls Court while my family stayed somewhere else.

I have reached the round of 16 on two occasions at Wimbledon so I knew what it’d take to get there. This year, however, my realistic goal was to make it to the quarters – a landmark no Pakistani has ever reached. And I guess there’s a reason why…the road to the quarters was not easy at all! In the first round we beat Rohan’s Davis Cup teammate Somdeve Devvarman and Trent Hui and I knew playing against a teammate wouldn’t be easy for Rohan. We ended up winning the match in four long sets after we came back from being a set down. Our second round opponents were Marx and Zelany (our nemesis in Germany). We both knew this would be a tough match and that they would be confident to beat us again. However, by the grace of Allah, we ended up beating them 13-11 in the fifth set. The marathon match meant Rohan and I hardly had any time to celebrate as both of us were on court an hour later, playing our respective mixed doubles matches. I really had a lot of fun playing with Alla Kudryavtseva (from Russia) against Bob Bryan and Lindsay Danvenport. We played in front of a packed Court 12, since it’s one of the Wimbledon show courts. I just wish I had more energy going into the match. After a well-fought match we lost 6-7, 3-6. We finished at 9:30 PM and it was time for me to cool down in the tub with a much needed ice bath.

Luckily, we had two days off until our next match. I made the most of those two days to relax my mind and recover my body by spending time with my family and friends, some light practice, massages, ice bath and watching football in the evenings.

Our third round match was against Lucas Lacko of Slovakia and Sergiy Stakhovsky, who had beaten sixth seeds and French Open finalists Leander Paes and Lucas Dloughy in the second round. Our match was scheduled for Court 5, another show court. The stage was set and we both knew we just had to keep believing in each other to overcome our opponents. By grace of Allah both of us played our best tennis and ended up winning in straight sets. I still remember going straight into sajda after the match and then hugging my family and Rohan’s. History was created in Pakistan tennis and I felt so proud and happy to be part of it. Having my family and friends there was the icing on the cake. They surely played a very vital role to get me through to my first quarterfinals in Wimbledon.

At the start of Wimbledon Rohan and I started a campaign called “Stop War, Start Tennis.” The idea was to promote the message of peace through sports and we cameup with the slogan with the help of my coach Robert Davis. Lotto of Italy, our clothing sponsors, came up with shirts and tops.

The campaign was a huge success as we were interviewed by so many reporters and TV channels from all over the world. Throughout the two weeks there were several Pakistanis and Indians supporting us at the courts. It was great to see Indians and Pakistanis cheering for one team. I felt really lucky to be associated with something like that. And I am glad that I could effectively project the image of Pakistan as a peace-loving country. We still need to do a lot to project a positive image of our country.

Playing quarters was a totally different ball game. We were up against two really confident and talented players in Philipp Petzschner Petchner who took Rafael Nadal to five sets few days earlier and French Open semi-finalist Juergen Melzer. There were some nervous moments for both me and Rohan as it was first time we both played in quarters of a grand slam. After not having the best start, we tried working our way back in throughout the match but ended up losing to a much better side on the day and eventual Wimbledon winners in straight sets. It was a very special Wimbledon this year. One I will never forget, not only because I created history but for several other reasons. The Queen visited Wimbledon after 20 years, I witnessed the longest match ever played in tennis and I broke the top-40 mark for the first time, reaching my highest-ever ranking of 36.

I would like to thank you all for your wishes, support and prayers. I realise I’m still a long way away from updating you guys on my current schedule but I think I’ll write about Davis Cup experience, my break in Pakistan and US schedule in my next blog.

Until then, stay safe and away from trouble.

?Aisam

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