ISLAMABAD: In a cricket-crazy country like Pakistan, tennis has not been able to get its due with only an odd icon like Aisam-ul-Haq making waves on international circuit. However, there are still youngsters in this country\u2019s folk who want to turn professionals and aspire to excel like world\u2019s top stars.
\nHuzaifa Abdul Rehman is one of them. The 14-year old is Pakistan\u2019s 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 held outside Pakistan.
\nCurrently the No.2 junior Asian player, Huzaifa idolises Swiss great Roger Federer and aims to be like him. \u201cHe is my ideal and I want to shine in the world of tennis like him and though Federer is currently not among the world\u2019s top ten players, he is undoubtedly the greatest tennis player of all time,\u201d he said of the legendary Swiss player who continuously remained in top 10 from October 2002 to November 2016 and also held the number one position for 302 weeks \u2014 a world record in the sport.
\nHuziafa, who represented Pakistan in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) 14 and Under Junior Development Series division 2 in January last year and claimed a silver medal in the coveted event, said he is training hard to accomplish what his role model (Federer) achieved after turning pro in 1998.
\n\u201cI believe I\u2019m on course to achieve what he did in his life,\u201d says the confident youngster. \u201cI\u2019m training for at least five hours every day and the more I train, the more my desire to become like Federer grows.\u201d
\nBut Huzaifa\u2019s father Col Mohammad Faisal believes that despite being highly talented, his son will only match the great Swiss player\u2019s accomplishments if he has the proper financial backing.
\n\u201cFinancial support becomes crucial when a player takes a step from a budding youngster to a tour professional,\u201d said Faisal. \u201cWhen you don\u2019t have the money to get top level training and to play the professional circuit, your dreams are unlikely to materialise.\u201d
\nHuzaifa got training in Bangkok in May 2014 under coach Dominik Utzinger, an Asian Tennis Federation ITF level III coach. Then last year from Jan 2016 to June 2016, he again spent a six-month training period in the same country under Pracharapol Khamsaman, an Asian Tennis Federation ITF level II Coach.
\nFaisal said training in foreign countries involved a lot of money and a common Pakistani could not even think of it. \u201cAn 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, then he\u2019ll have to spend three times more than that.\u201d
\nAt 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 a high opinion about his pupil and feels he has all the potential to become a tennis icon.
\n\u201cHuzaifa is a highly talented kid and when I see his commitment and devotion to the game, I know that one day he\u2019ll become a great player. The good thing about him is that he spends a lot of time in training. I\u2019ve no doubt in mind that hard work will pay off and he\u2019ll rise in world tennis,\u201d Asim added.
\nHuzaifa also feels that tennis facilities in Pakistan are not at par with international standards and youngsters need sponsorships to get good training abroad and to pursue their dreams. \u201cWe can produce great players like Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray but money is a big hurdle,\u201d he remarked. \u201cHopefully things will work out for me better if I get good sponsors.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD: In a cricket-crazy country like Pakistan, tennis has not been able to get its due with only an odd icon like Aisam-ul-Haq making waves on international circuit. However, there are still youngsters in this country\u2019s folk who want to turn professionals and aspire to excel like world\u2019s top stars. Huzaifa Abdul Rehman is one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5534,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9537","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n