Female tennis player urges PTF to hold women’s futures

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TLTP
ISLAMABAD
Pakistan’s top female tennis player Mehaq Khokhar has urged Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) President Salim Saifullah Khan to bring Future Tournaments for female players, just like Pakistan is hosting Men’s Futures.
Mehaq expressed these views during an exclusive interview to TLTP here on Saturday.
“Without holding Futures, we won’t be able to produce quality female players. In 2011, at least four women Futures were held in Pakistan and it was wonderful time. We need to hold such events every year, which will help us learn and we can defeat any given player, while federation should hold more women doubles and mixed doubles matches, without working on these areas, we can’t improve,” she suggested.
She said that women players should also be given chances to play qualifying rounds, which would help them become much better players.
Talking about her career, she said she was 13 when she was selected to represent country in Under-14. “Since then, I took playing tennis very seriously. I have represented Pakistan in a number of international events and I was former Pakistan number 3, as I had to leave Pakistan to complete my studies in USA.”
She said she continued playing tennis in the USA, but it was not enough to maintain her national ranking. She maintained that after her return to Pakistan, she participated in different national and international events and gave more than satisfactory results. “I played a number of singles finals and won the doubles final as well. I represented Pakistan in Asian Games. I had been national junior champion as well. I was back in 2018 and by that time, I had no national ranking points and by the March 2019, I was Pakistan number 4 and now I am number 3 in national rankings.”
She said that female players should be provided exposure and international tournaments. She said she had represented the country at junior and senior Fed Cup teams. “I also represented Pakistan in Islamic Games as well.”
She said, “I think difference between men’s and women’s prize money needs to be looked at, as financial stability is a must for a player to excel.”
She requested PTF to invest on both male and female players and especially on junior players. She said that setting up a tennis academy is a good initiative of the federation and it will develop tennis in Pakistan.
“We need to join hands and support each other. The federation is doing well, but there is always room for improvement,” Mehaq concluded.