Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi snubs Rohan Bopanna for upcoming season – Tennis News
Pakistani number one, Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, rejected India’s Rohan Bopanna request for re-uniting the Indo-Pak Express for the upcoming season. He is planning to stick with his current partner, Jean-Julien Rojer from Netherlands, with whom he conquered two
tournaments and reached far in many major events.
The Indo-Pak Express of Qureshi and Bopanna enjoyed great success. Their partnership was highlighted with a final showdown at the US Open two years ago (lost to Bryan Brothers). In addition to this, they triumphed at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle and then
cruised to the final four at Flushing Meadows. Their impressive season did not end there as they won the Stockholm Open (downed Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares) and captured their first biggest title at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris (downed Julien Benneteau
and Nicolas Mahut in final round).
The Indian Pakistani team also secured a spot in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. Qureshi reached his highest doubles ranking at number eight during this tenure. However, the Indian contender was focusing at the London Olympics 2012 and decided
to part ways with Pakistani. Bopanna partnered with Mahesh Bhupathi in the start of this season.
With Olympics now over and Bopanna being banned from representing India by the country’s tennis federation, he is eyeing to re-unite the Indo-Pak Express.
Qureshi reflected in an interview to the Express Tribune:
“Bopanna is a friend and I love to play with him but right now I am concentrating on making it to the London Masters. Right now my priority is to make it back into the top-eight and Rojer is working equally hard with me. We’ve found our way and I don’t think
I would want to change that.”
The Pakistani respects Bopanna’s interest of re-uniting the Indo-Pak Express. However, he has grabbed two titles and reached semis at the US Open with his current partner. As a result, Qureshi is planning to stick with Rojer for the next season.
“It’s always about the team first and I am able to meet all the goals with Rojer. Last year was tricky and I respected Bopanna’s wish but for now I am concentrating on the job at hand. So far my coach thinks that I can achieve the desired results with Rojer.”
Qureshi and Rojer are bidding to improve their rankings at the South African Airways ATP World Tour Doubles Rankings. They are also re-focusing their strategy in order to capture their maiden Grand Slam title in the upcoming season.
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