Nooooooooooooooooooooooo
well ill keep my fingers crossed for Marat!!!!
By Pritha Sarkar
LONDON (Reuters) - Marat Safin will need to do some homework before he steps out for his second round match at Wimbledon on Wednesday because he knows nothing about his next opponent.
The Russian set up a second round contest with Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, who became the first Pakistani player in more than three decades to reach the second round here.
"I don't even know how he looks unfortunately," Safin said on Tuesday following his 7-6 6-4 7-5 win over South African qualifier Rik De Voest.
"I guess he's playing pretty good tennis if he qualified, he won a three-set match today. So I guess tough opponent second round. We'll see how it's going to be."
Provided he can steer past the 279th-ranked qualifier from Lahore, Safin is likely to collide with world number one and four-times champion Roger Federer in the third round.
But having won the last of his 15 titles more than two years ago at the Australian Open in 2005, the Russian seems to have almost given up hope of ending that barren spell soon.
"I have no confidence at the moment," said the 26th seed.
Asked to elaborate, he added: "Because I'm not winning a lot of matches lately, because I've been struggling for the past couple of months, more than a couple of months.
"So how can you build up the confidence? The confidence comes with winning matches and playing a lot of semi-finals, finals.
"The last time I played a semi-final was in March, so that's where my confidence has left me."
Despite his mental state and his dislike for grass, Safin did not seem to be troubled on Monday.
De Voest was making his grand slam debut but his challenge ended after two hours and 18 minutes when Safin fired his seventh ace.
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Pakistan's Qureshi fulfils a dream at Wimbledon By Paul Majendie
LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) - After once hitting the headlines for playing doubles with an Israeli, Pakistan's Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi made his solo mark at Wimbledon on Tuesday.
Qureshi, the first Pakistani to play in the Wimbledon men's singles in 31 years, beat Briton Lee Childs 6-3 6-4 7-6 in the first round. Next up for Qureshi will be the Russian former number one Marat Safin.
Qureshi, mobbed afterwards by Asian fans clamouring for photos and autographs, told Reuters: "From the first point I decided to be aggressive. The main thing I was worried about was how to handle the pressure at Wimbledon."
Haroon Rahim was the last Pakistani to reach the second round here, in 1975 and 1976.
He may be ranked only 279 in the world but Qureshi's confidence was high when he upset Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the Halle grasscourt tournament earlier this month and then fought through Wimbledon's qualifying rounds.
"I was very loose and relaxed on court today," he said. "I don't think Lee expected me to come out today so pumped up and fired up."
The 27-year-old from Lahore, whose mother was a national tennis champion, said "I am living my dream. Ever since I started playing, I wanted to play Wimbledon."
"My mum took me to the tennis courts one day when I was 14. That is when I started playing tennis."
From Jan. 1 this year he has been writing every day in his diary: "I am going to qualify for Wimbledon."
Qureshi had failed three times before in his bid to get into the main draw but "I always believed I could play with the big boys. Qualifying for Wimbledon has changed my life."
So did his doubles partnership with Israel's Amir Hadad, which in 2003 won them a humanitarian award from the organisers of men's tennis.
"During a summer when fear and hatred garnered much of the headlines, Amir and Aisam-ul-Haq provided much needed relief with their simple message about tolerance through tennis," former ATP chief Mark Miles said.
At Wimbledon, Hadad and Qureshi initially thought little of their decision to team up for the first time to play doubles.
But set against the backdrop of Jewish-Islamic tensions in the Middle East, their partnership -- they reached the third round at Wimbledon and also played at the U.S. Open -- proved inspirational.
"I thought I was doing the right thing," Qureshi said.
"If I believe and think I can do well with a Jewish player again, whoever that is, I will definitely play with him."
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MAKE ME FRIGGIN PROUD AISAM !!!
;D
