An optimist, I hoped that Aisam’s exploits will give Pakistan tennis the sort of boost it has always so desperately needed. I still do.
But so far, we have been unable to capitalize on the fact that at the moment Aisam is a part of an elite list of our sporting heroes. In fact, he is the only one in that list who is not a cricketer.
It’s time that Pakistan’s tennis chiefs begin a drive, with Aisam as its face, to lift the sport to a new level. For years tennis has languished as a minor sport in Pakistan, way behind the massively popular game of cricket.
Over the years, it has just attracted minimal number of tennis fans, most of whom are either friends or family of the players.
Tennis should have done better in a country where sports, not just cricket, is a passion.
Pakistan should take cue from India, where over the years tennis has almost graduated to being the number two sport of that country, just behind cricket.
Players like Ramanathan Krishnan, Vijay Amritraj, Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes have played a huge role in taking Indian tennis to the level where it has, according to many sports writers in India, overtaken hockey – the country’s national game. In recent times, the pin-up girl of Indian tennis – Sania Mirza – has given the sport’s popularity another shot in the arm.
The thing is that for any sport to progress especially in our part of the world where most people tend to follow individuals rather the game itself, you need heroes.
One of the biggest reasons why cricket remains our national pastime is because we have always produced crowd-pullers from yesteryear’s Hanif Mohammad to today’s Shahid Afridi. There have always been big names like Fazal Mehmood, Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad and Wasim Akram.
Unlike cricket, hockey completely fell apart because it ceased to produce stars. With the only exception of Shahbaz Ahmed and to some extent Sohail Abbas, Pakistan haven’t produced any hockey-playing heroes in the last two decades. Hockey, which till the early eighties rivalled cricket in terms of popularity, is now lagging far behind cricket.
Tennis, too, has lacked stars. There have been players like Haroon Rahim, Saeed Hai, Saeed Mir and Rashid Malik but neither of them could become a crowd-puller.
Aisam, however, is a different story.
He has all the ingredients to be a mega star. Aisam is still just 30, has the looks and is impressively articulate. More importantly, he is good enough to win a Grand Slam doubles title. The way he and doubles partner Rohan Bopanna played throughout this year, my prediction would be that they will finally win a Grand Slam crown in 2011.
What Pakistan’s tennis chiefs need to do is to use his star power for the benefit of this great sport in our country.
It’s not rocket science.
What the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) immediately needs is a concrete plan. PTF chiefs should sit down with all stake-holders and come out with a strategy aimed at the development and promotion of Pakistan tennis. This could be done by the end of this month, allowing the PTF to start implementing it in the New Year.
My suggestion would be rope in Aisam. He could be the face of the campaign, a world-class player who can inspire youngsters to work harder and excel in their game. He could attract newcomers which is very important because what Pakistan tennis desperately needs is a broader base. You can’t turn it into a major sport until there are just a few dozen active players on the domestic circuit.
Aisam should be holding brief coaching clinics and camps in different centers of the country every now and then. Off course, they have to be organized by the PTF through its various units. To pay for them, the PTF should try roping in corporate sponsorship. As a youth icon, Aisam has a sizeable following and I’m sure many sponsors would like to be on board.
A healthy grant from the government would be great to initiate the campaign but at the end of the day, PTF will have to market tennis properly to turn it into a sellable product. That’s the only step that could guarantee sustainable growth.
Tennis cannot and should not suffer any more. It’s a major sport across the globe and should be treated like one in our country. And with a player of Aisam’s class available to make that happen, not doing anything about it would be a crime.
