Pakistan’s future tennis hope, Samir Iftikhar, speaks to Dawn.com’s Tabinda Najam Siddiqui in an exclusive interview.
While Pakistan’s tennis ace Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi has been making Pakistan proud on the international stage, his cousin Samir Iftikhar has been making waves in the world junior tennis circuit.
Coming from a family of tennis players, with his father Tayyab Khwaja and grandfather Khwaja Iftikhar having represented Pakistan in the Davis Cup, it really is no surprise that Samir also followed suit.
Samir was initially interested in cricket but his father encouraged him instead to start playing tennis and he is glad he made that choice, he has since then trained hard to become the player he is today.
“Cricket bores me now, I like tennis much better and I think it was the best choice for me,” he says.
Being the cousin of Pakistan’s biggest tennis star must put some pressure on Samir but he says that if anything, Aisam provides him with inspiration to do better in every match he plays.
“When both of us are in Pakistan, we play together and he gives me tips to help improve my game. He’s one of my biggest inspirations and I look up to him as my mentor.”
Aisam says he treats Samir like his younger brother and tries to help him whenever the two of them are playing together. “He’s a very hardworking kid; I never practiced as hard as he does when I was his age.”
Pakistan’s tennis super star feels extremely glad that he is an inspiration for the upcoming generation of players.
“I’m very happy with Samir’s performance; he’s getting good training, heading in the right direction and has a long way to go,” says Aisam.
Samir recently won his first international tennis tournament when the 18-year-old defeated India’s Arjun Pande in the Oman International Junior Tennis tournament. Ranked 271st in the world, he hopes to break into the top 100 sometime soon.
His fast rise in the junior circuit, from 1300 to 271 in less than a year, was noticed by the International Tennis Federation who awarded the player a special grant in June this year.
“I’m working hard on my fitness and playing in more international tournaments than I’ve played before and I’m also playing better so there is a good chance that I will improve my ranking further,” he says.
Based in England, Samir believes he has an edge over the other Pakistani players in terms of fitness and skill due to the