Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (Urdu: اعصام الحق قریشی) (born March 17, 1980, in Lahore, Pakistan) is a professional tennis player from Pakistan. He is currently Pakistan’s top player. A top 10 doubles player, his highest Singles Race ranking is 103rd and is the formerAsian No. 3. He is the only Pakistani tennis player to reach the final of a Grand Slam, which he did in 2010 competing in both mixed doubles (partnering with Květa Peschke) and men’s doubles (partnering with Rohan Bopanna) at the US Open.
Qureshi teamed with Israeli player Amir Hadad during Wimbledon and the US Open tournaments in 2002. The duo won the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year award for playing together despite pressure from their communities.
As Pakistani No. 1, Qureshi has traditionally led Pakistan’s Davis Cup campaigns. After shocking New Zealand in the Asia/Oceania Zone Group I second round play-off in 2004 to survive relegation, he took them to the World Group Play-Offs for the first time in 2005, before they were beaten by Chile. He has won the most Davis Cup matches for Pakistan, being the most successful singles and doubles player ever. He is also half of the most successful doubles pairing for Pakistan (with Aqeel Khan) in the country’s sporting history.
Qureshi is now a member of the “Champions for Peace” club, a group of 54 athletes committed to serving peace in the world through sport, created by Peace and Sport, a Monaco-based international organization.
Aisam and his partner Rohan Bopanna have created a campaign, Stop War Start Tennis, with their goal to play a match on the border joining India and Pakistan.
Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi grew up in Lahore in a Tennis playing family. His mother, Nausheen Ihtisham, a former 10-time national champion who represented Pakistan in the Fed Cup, started teaching him tennis. He started at the age of 14.
His maternal grandfather, Khawaja Iftikhar, was the All-India champion before Pakistan split from India in 1947.
At the age of 16, the ITF sponsored him for two years. He won the Pakistan International Junior Championships , Casablanca Cup in Mexico, World Super Junior Championships and the LTA International Junior Championships in Roehampton. At the age of 18, he was a Top 20 junior player, and decided to turn pro.
Aisam now is Pakistan’s top professional tennis player and is ranked in the top 50 doubles players.
Awards
In November 2010 Aisam was appointed The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) goodwill ambassador.
Aisam was awarded the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year for 2010 along with his doubles tennis partner Rohan Bopanna of India, he had previously won the award in 2002 withAmir Hadad of Israel.
Along with Rohan Bopanna, Aisam received the 2010 “Peace and Sport Image of the Year” award, in recognition of their dedicated efforts to spread the message of peace through sport. He was also given the Pakistan President’s Award for Performance in 2002, the Salam Pakistan Youth Award by the President of Pakistan in 2007 and was runner-up for the 2003 Anne Frank Award For Moral Courage by the Anne Frank Trust, UK. In 2011, he was awarded Lux Style Award for Most Stylish Sports Person.