Countries across the world attach great importance to Davis Cup which is the true yardstick of judging one's performance in tennis.

They prepare round the year to achieve the desired results. However, it is not so in Pakistan.

A short camp and a few low budgeted domestic tournaments are all that comprise Pakistan team's preparations for the Davis Cup contests which are mostly set on foreign soil.

Needless to say, the domestic competitions are either one-sided affairs or marred by walkovers and could hardly be seen as any kind of preparation for such high-level contests.

Despite the bleak scenario, however, people at the helm of affairs always appear satisfied with the 'progress' and keep getting extensions in their term of office. They are well aware that the base of the game has shrunk and is confined to a handful of players in three cities  Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. Yet, no measures are in place to widen the tennis base or groom the younger lot.

The country's two ace players Aisam-ul-Haq and Aqeel Khan, who are in their early thirties and have carried the game to new heights with victories in World Group playoff in 2005 besides some other, have little tennis left in them.

There's a vast difference between these two and the second tier. The second tier includes Heera Ashiq, Faizan Khurram, Waqas Malik, Sadan-ul-Haq, Adil Kohari, Nameer Shamsi and Ahmed Babar who, if given a chance, cannot even win a group III rubber, let alone the Davis Cup ties.

However, it was not always like this in Pakistan Tennis. There used to be a fierce competition to don Pakistan colour in the past. Saeed Meer, Munawwar Iqbal, Meer Mohammad, Ismail Majeed, Nadir Ali Khan, Nasir Munir, Jamil Ahmed, Altaf Hussain, Rashid Malik, Islam-ul-Haq, Hameed-ul-Haq, Inam-ul-Haq, M. Khalid, M. Khaliq, Mushaf Zia, Haseeb Aslam, to name a few, were players of repute who brought laurels to the nation including the 1974 Tehran Games and the 1978 Bangkok Asian Games as well as the first Islamic Games held in Izmir, Turkey, in 1980.

“The PTF should make amendment in its constitution to accommodate a players' representative in the body to discuss their problems,” Aqeel told Dawn on Thursday.

He was critical that today a player gets just Rs400 daily during the course of a ranking tournament which is the same as two decades ago. “The purse is also meager, considering the inflation,” he remarked.

On the other hand, the tennis fraternity alleged that the PTF Complex in Islamabad is a white elephant whose doors are closed for poor players. PTF's lady council member Shahida Kauser Farooq, who is one of the aspirants for PTF top slot, is working hard for uplift of the game in a quietly-dedicated way.

She helped built the PTF Complex boundary wall worth seven to eight million rupees with the collaboration of CDA and donated mattresses for the comfortable stay of players in addition to carrying out plantation in the entire premises.

It is an irony then that the complex is named after Syed Dilawar Abbas since the council approved his name for the honour while he was also allowed to hold two posts simultaneously — that of president PTF and the Patron-in-Chief. Such things have never happened in the history of the game and are reflecting poorly on Pakistan Tennis.

The writing is very much on the wall and days are not far when Pakistan will be relegated to Group III or even Group IV once Aisam and Aqeel bid adieu to the game.

Pakistan's performance in Davis Cup during last eight years at a glance

2010 • March 5 to 7 Pakistan bt Hong Kong China 3-1 in the first round of Asia Oceania Zone Group II in Hong Kong. (Team Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Jalil Khan, Yasir Khan. Rashid Malik non-playing captain)

2009 • March 6 to 8 Pakistan bt Oman 4-1 in the first round of Asia Oceania Zone Group II in Muscat. (Team Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Jalil Khan, Yasir Khan. Rashid Malik non-playing captain)

• July 10 to 12 Pakistan lost 2-3 to Philippines in the second round of Asia Oceania Zone Group II in Manila to retain its place in 2010. (Team Aqeel Khan, Jalil Khan, Jibran Mohammadi, Yasir Khan. Rashid Malik non-playing captain)

2008 • April 9 to 13 Pakistan bt Malaysia 3-0 in the final of Asia Oceania Zone Davis Cup Group III in Tehran to earn promotion in grade II in 2009. (Team Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Asim Shafik, Jibran Mohammadi. Rashid Malik non-playing captain)

2007 • Feb 9 to 11 Pakistan lost 1-4 to Philippines in the first round of Asia Oceania Zone Davis Cup Group II in Manila. (Team Aqeel Khan, Jalil Khan, Asim Shafik, Yasir Khan. Hameed-ul-Haq non-playing captain)

• April 6 to 8 Pakistan lost 2-3 to Pacific Oceania in playoff in Pacific Oceania to relegate to Group III in 2008 for the first time ever. (Team Aqeel Khan, Jalil Khan, Shahzad Khan. Hameed-ul-Haq playing captain)

2006 • Feb 10 to 12 Pakistan lost 2-3 to Chinese Taipei in the first round of Asia Oceania Zone Group I in Chinese Taipei. (Team Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Asim Shafik, Jalil Khan. Rashid Malik non-playing captain)

• April 7 to 9 Pakistan lost 2-3 to India in playoff in Mumbai. (Team Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Asim Shafik, Jalil Khan. Rashid Malik non- playing captain)

• Sept 22 to 24 Pakistan lost 0-5 to China in the second round playoff in Beijing to relegate to group II in 2007. (Team Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Asim Shafik, Nomi Qamar. Rashid Malik non-playing captain)

2005 • March 4 to 6 Pak bt Thailand 3-2 in the first round of Asia Oceania Zone Group I in Lahore. (Team Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Shahzad Khan, Asim Shafik. M. Khalid non-playing captain)

• April 29 to May 1 Pakistan bt Chinese Taipei 4-1 in the second round in Lahore. (Team Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Shahzad, Asim Shafik. M. Khalid non-playing captain)

• Sept 23 to 25 Pakistan lost 0-5 to Chile in World Group Playoff in Chile. (Team Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Shahzad Khan, Asim Shafik. M. Khalid non-playing captain)

2004 • Feb 6 to 8 Pakistan lost 0-5 to Thailand in the first round of Asia Oceania Zone Group I in Bangkok. (Team Aqeel Khan, Nomi Qamar and Jalil Khan. Inam-ul-Haq playing captain)

• April 9 to 11 Pakistan lost 0-5 to Chinese Taipei in the first round playoff in Chinese Taipei. (Team Aqeel Khan, Asim Shafik, Jalil Khan, Shahzad Khan. Inam-ul-Haq non-playing captain)

• Sept 24 to 26. Pakistan bt New Zealand 3-2 in the second round playoff in Islamabad to stay in group I in 2005. (Team Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Asim Shafik, Nomi Qamar. Rashid Malik non-playing captain)

2003 • Feb 7 to 9 Pakistan lost 0-5 to New Zealand in the first round of Asia Oceania Zone Group I in Hamilton. (Team Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Asim Shafik, Nomi Qamar. M. Khalid non-playing captain)

• April 4 to 6 Pakistan lost 0-5 to Japan in Toyota in the first round playoff. (Team Aqeel Khan, Shahzad Khan, Shahzad Samad Khan and Inam Gul. M. Khalid non-playing captain)

• Sept 19 to 21 Pakistan bt South Korea 3-2 in Lahore in second round playoff to stay in group I in 2004. (Team Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Jalil Khan, Nomi Qamar. Rashid Malik non-playing captain)

2002 • Feb 8 to 10 Pakistan bt Malaysia 4-1 in the quarter-final of Asia Oceania Zone Group II in Kuala Lumpur. (Team Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Asim Shafik, Nomi Qamar. Saeed Hai non-playing captain)

• April 5 to 7 Pakistan bt Chinese Taipei 4-1 in the semi-final in Lahore. (Team Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Asim Shafik, Nomi Qamar. Rashid Malik non-playing captain)

• Sept 20 to 22 Pakistan by China 3-2 in the final in Peshawar to advance into group I. (Team Aisam-ul-Haq, Aqeel Khan, Asim Shafik, Nomi Qamar. Rashid Malik non-playing captain)