The Australian Open 2021 is getting closer after months of planning and delays but not without hiccups. Demands, requests, refusals, and frustration created a sense of chaos in the beginning when chartered flights of players and their members started landing at Australian airports.
- A total of 72 tennis players went into hard lockdown after positive Covid cases were found in chartered flights
- Pakistani tennis star Aisam Ul Haq Qureshi escaped hard lockdown
- Qureshi is playing doubles in the Australian Open
Preparation for the first Grand Slam of 2021 has been overshadowed by changed Covid restrictions despite all efforts. The virus caught by many inbound passengers during transit, created havoc as players started emerging from the flights. Though the dust is settling down now and all stakeholders are realizing the ground realities and trying to get acquainted with the situation. In the meantime, the Australian grand slam tournament's schedule is re-jigged and an additional women's tournament will be held from February 3-7 to accommodate those in hard lockdown. Ukrainian tennis star Dayana Yastremska may miss the Australian Open after testing positive for a banned substance.
Swiss tennis star Roger Federer is not participating in the Australian Open but the world No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No.2 Rafael Nadal with Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka have arrived in Adelaide while most players were flown into Melbourne including Pakistani tennis star Aisam Ul Haq Qureshi.
Aisam has won the most Davis Cup matches for Pakistan, being the most successful singles and doubles player from his country ever. He is playing doubles in the Australian Open this year with his Serbian partner Tomislav Brkic. Qureshi is landed in Melbourne only to realize that he has to accommodate according to the restrictions and protocol due to changing situation.
Those players whose flight did not have any positive case were allowed after three days for two hours of practice and 90 minutes at the gym. Aisam considers himself lucky.
I would say I am lucky that my flight did not have any Covid positive case and we are allowed limited exposure outside the hotel room besides that I also have two negative tests so far
Happy to be finally out and getting our first practice done here in
Aisam quickly adopted the new situation and focussed on his fitness within limited resources in hotel quarantine. He says that an athlete like him who has been playing for the last 20 years has learned to adapt according to the situation.
"When I return back to Pakistan from abroad, I accommodate quickly with limited resources available in Pakistan and never made it as an excuse and that is the same mindset I replicated to work out within the room for fitness priorities", he added. He acknowledges that the first few days were hard in total isolation and he was not allowed to leave the room except for picking up the food.
At first, I was not sure how long I will be living in this condition. I used the available stuff such as ball's carton and water bottles etc. as my weight, to do the exercise
Aisam realized the limitations but kept himself active and motivated.
Aisam reached the final of a Grand Slam in 2010 and became the first Pakistani to play the US Open. He had ranked number eight in doubles in 2011 and No. 125 in singles in 2007.
Source: Aisam Ul Haq
In the past, he was criticized in his home country for choosing Indian and Israeli partners for doubles. Aisam floated an idea of an exhibition match at the Indian-Pakistani border with his Indian partner but the vision is yet to be materialized. He also initiated various charity campaigns including the "feed 10,000", #stopwarstarttennis, and "Rizq Share Food" campaigns which were supported by leading tennis stars Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Maria Sharapova, and Sania Mirza.
Aisam is adamant to give his best performance in the Australian Open doubles this year with his new partner.
The Australian Open will begin from 8th February and many players are yet to settle down with Covid restrictions, however a frustrated world No.1 Novak Djokovic shared his immediate reaction in the form of players' demandsafter reaching hotel quarantine.
Source: Aisam Ul Haq
The Victorian government's response was blunt that the athletes in lockdown will not receive special treatment. Former tennis player and Coach Roger Rasheed emphasized that an athlete always expected to adopt the rapid change. Australian Open will be played with 25 per cent crowd capacity and Melbourne Park venue is expected to be divided into zones for easy contact tracing.
Click on the player at the top of the page to listen to the full podcast and find more about Haq, if he plans to continue his journey of doubles, and what are his aspirations.
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