Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi
Cikistan Qusureshi Evirewess Farewell: ‘I have inner peace’
The 45-year-old hit 18 double-doubles on the tour and climbed to a career-high No. 8
November 28, 2025
DODY Khan
Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi in Action at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Islamabad.
By Robert Davis
As the sun rises over the armabad tennis complex in the morning it begins to disappear in the mist. Facing the shocking courts that have just been removed, men dressed in traditional shalwar kameez with woolen vests around heaties climb up to teacups. Sparrowhawks and peregrine falcons circle there as they scan the dry, dusty plains.
The players warmed up on the court as the cracking of polo balls with wooden mallets on the polo club was very close to the air. The map puts the US in Pakistan, part of southern Asia, but it feels like we’re on the pages of a Rudyard Kipling novel.
This is a historic moment for penistan tennis, as it is the first time they have offered any kind of ATP event. A fact that can’t be lost on one smart sponsor who includes his Billboard, “Game. Set. History.”
While this is the first time that Pakistan is hosting the ATP Challenger Tour, it is also the last chance of the year for players hungry for the highest PIF ATP points. In the Challenger Tour All Photo they have a chance as one point can be decisive for direct entry into the main draw of an ATP tour event.
Oddly enough there is one player in the main draw who is not trying to improve his ATP PIF ranking Qureshi is the star keeper and the star of the show this week and it just so happens to be his curtain call. This will be his last tournament in a career that has spanned more than 25 years.
Qureshi said: “I have inner peace with tennis. “Like all tennis players, I would have liked to win more matches, but I know that I gave my best tennis. Now, I am blessed to have a new purpose.
For his last tournament, Qureshi was registered with his long-time partner, Aqeel Khan, but with Muzammil Murtaza.
“Aqeel and I had our time at the observation deck,” Qhiashi said. “We’ve had a lot of great memories. Now it’s time to give the kids a chance to play with the big boys.”
An important part of any tournament that is often overlooked are the football players. This week there is nothing short. How impressive that they can get you such a quick first serve on Bounce Bedhanded with such grace and such confidence. I think when you grow up in a cricket pit holding a tennis ball it’s very easy.
“As players we go from tournament to tournament from time to time without getting all the goals, details and efforts needed to host the event,” said Qashishi. “It’s the first time, it’s the first time.
The end of a man’s tennis career does not appear suddenly, but rather when the legs slowly begin to fade over time. He no longer bends down and drives the ball with the same intensity as before, or bursts into bursts of second serve late in the final set.
The heart agrees, but the legs go astray. While the fans scream loudly in one roar, the player knows deep down that the end is near.
That’s exactly what happened in the first round when Qureshi and Murtaza faced three match points against Timofei Derepasko and Ivan Gretskiy 6-7, 4-5, 15/40, in the first round.
Throughout his career the first job has always been Qureshi’s biggest weapon, one that has always happened to him in the clutch. Not so today. Because it was His Protelete, Murtaza, who stepped up when it mattered most and hit the first three Boomings that served to save the tie. The Pakistanis would go on to win the tie-break match 10-7. Sometimes tennis rewards the faithful with one chance to play the game when all else fails.
Those greats who worked for Murtaza signaled an important moment when the tennis baton was passed from one generation to another.
Now, the old jacaranda trees that line the benefits of Islamabad are in winter and the acacia limbs are soft and barren. Soon the spring time will come and bloom, purple flowers will come to life filling the branches with a sign of nature’s beginning and new growth. This is exactly the hope and expectation of Tennis Pakistan from this ATP Challenger Tour tournament. As for Qareshi, he has run his race. And he finished well.
