KARACHI, 6 May 2005 — Pakistan’s high-flying Davis Cup squad on Tuesday got the news that they feared most: An away tie in the World Group playoffs this fall.
The playoffs’ draws announced at the International Tennis Federation (ITF) headquarters in London pit Pakistan against Chile led by world No. 20 Fernando Gonzalez.
“It would be a tough tie,” admitted Pakistani ace Essam ul-Haq Qureshi who helped his team climb up the Davis Cup ladder in recent years. “Especially because it would take place away from home,” added the Lahore player while talking to Arab News.
Pakistani players were praying for another home tie after having beaten higher ranked opponents — Thailand and Chinese-Taipei — this year in Lahore.
Pakistan have a very successful track record at home as they have been unbeaten in their own backyard for the last seven years. The national team has recorded all their major Davis Cup win over leading teams like Thailand, China, South Korea, New Zealand and Chinese Taipei, on home soil. Luck, however, favored Chile who got the choice of surface through lot during the draws ceremony in London.
Essam believes Pakistan could have had a fighting chance against Chile had the toss for the choice of surface gone in their favor.
“A tie against Chile on grass in Pakistan would have certainly given us a lot of hope,” said Essam adding that he and fellow national team players including Pakistan No. 1 Aqeel Khan are best on grass.
Chile are likely to host the tie to be played from September 23 to 25 in Santiago on clay.
“Clay is a surface that the Chilean players like the most and I am sure they would go for it,” said Essam.
Apart from the home advantage, another point that tilts the balance heavily in favor of Chile is that their players are much higher ranked than the Pakistanis on the international circuit.
Gonzalez, Chile’s top string, is ranked No. 20 in singles and No. 55 in the international doubles rankings. His adversary Essam is placed at No. 212 in singles and 144 in doubles.
Chile’s second-best player Adrian Garcia Sr is placed at No. 152 in singles ranking and No. 136 in doubles’ list on the ATP computer. In comparison, Pakistan’s second string Aqeel Khan is ranked No. 370 in singles and 823 in doubles rankings.
“There is little doubt that Chile are superior than us,” agreed Pakistan’s Davis Cup manager Rashid Malik. “But that doesn’t mean that we should just sit back and get us beaten without a fight,” added Rashid who wants his players to train hard for the historic tie.
“It would be the first ever tie for us in the World Group (playoffs) and that itself is a big motivating factor for our boys,” said the former Davis Cup player.
“Chile may be tough opponents and playing the away tie appears to make the match even tougher. But we would go all out against them,” said Aqeel.
A victory in the tie for either team would take it to the World Group in 2006. The losers would play in the Zonal Group-I rounds next year.
