By Muhammad Shafique Raja
ISLAMABAD, Jan 9 (APP): Being the preserve of tiny-elite in cricket-crazy Pakistan, tennis has not been able to get popularity here. However, there are still youngsters in this country’s folk, who want to turn professionals and aspire to excel like world’s top stars. Huzaifa Abdul Rehman is one of them.
The 14-year old is Pakistan’s top junior player and has been outstanding in the last couple of years. He has already jolted the tennis circuit at the Asian level by winning six Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) tournaments in 2016, five of them coming from outside Pakistan.
Currently, No 2 junior Asian player, Huzaifa has idolised Swiss great Roger Federer. “He is my ideal and I want to shine in the world of tennis like him,” he told APP.
“Though, he is currently not among world’s top ten players, he is undoubtedly the greatest tennis player of all times,” he said of Roger Federer, who continuously remained in the top 10 ranked players from October 2002 to November 2016 and also held the number one position for 302 weeks.
Huziafa, who represented Pakistan in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) 14 and Under Junior Development Series division 2 in January, last year and claimed silver medal in the coveted event, said he was training hard to accomplish what his role model (Federer) achieved after turning pro in 1998.
“I believe I’m on course to achieve what he did in his life. I’m spending at least five hours in training every day. The more I train, the more my desire to become like him strengthens,” he said.
But Huzaifa’s father Col Muhammad Faisal believes that though highly talented, his son will only match the great Swiss’ accomplishments if he has proper financial backing.
“Financial support becomes crucial when a player takes a step from a budding youngster to tour professional.
“When you don’t have money to get training and play the professional circuit, your dreams are never materialized” he added.
Huzaifa got training in Bangkok in May 2014 under coach Dominik Utzinger, an Asian Tennis Federation ITF level III Coach. Then, last year (from January, 2016 to June, 2016) he again spent a six-month training stint in the same country under Pracharapol Khamsaman, an Asian Tennis Federation ITF level II Coach.
Faisal said training in foreign countries involved a lot of money and a common Pakistani could not even think of that.
“An aspiring youngster requires at least $3000 per month only for group training in a state-of-the-art academy to polish his skills. But if he wishes to hire a coach alone then he’ll have to spend three times more than that.”
At home Huziafa is groomed by Faisal at the tennis courts of Mangla Cantt. When he is in Islamabad he is trained by former Pakistan No 1 and ITF Level II COACH, Asim Shafik, who has high opinion about his pupil and feels he has all the potential to become a tennis icon.
“Huzaifa is a highly talented kid and when I see his commitment and devotion with the game I become sure one day he’ll become a great player.
“The good thing about him is that he spends a lot of time in training. I’ve no doubt in mind that hard work will pay off and he’ll create his name in the world,” he added.
Huzaifa also feels that tennis facilities in Pakistan are not at par with international standards and youngsters need sponsorships to get training abroad to pursue their dreams. “We can produce great players like Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray but the big hurdle is money,” he remarked.
