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Rohan Bopanna of India and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan also want to win, and they did so Wednesday in the first round with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (6) victory over Somdev Devvarman of India and Treat Conrad Huey of the Philippines.
Bopanna and Qureshi, both 30 years old, have played doubles together in the past, winning one ATP title in Johannesburg earlier this year and reaching four tour finals since 2007. This year, they are wearing sweat shirts with slogans reading “Stop War, Start Tennis” as part of a peace campaign. A Monaco-based group called Peace and Sport is backing the initiative. Prince Albert is a promoter of the group.
“If we can get along, normal people can as well,” Qureshi said. “If we can change some people’s lives in India and Pakistan, it’s a very positive thing.”
Qureshi has a world doubles ranking of 42, and Bopanna is ranked 51st in doubles. The players complement each other, with Qureshi strong in his volley game and Bopanna providing a big serve and solid backcourt game. On court, Qureshi talks in Urdu to Hindi-speaking Bopanna, who understands because of the language similarities.
“They play to win and they play for a living,” said former Indian player Vijay Amitraj. “They look at it more as a question of you playing a good deuce court and me playing a good ad court. The most important thing about it is, ‘Are we going to make a good team?”’
Bopanna said he doesn’t view their on-court partnership as a political gesture. For him, it’s just a sign that people from a background of division can work together. He and Qureshi have stayed in each other’s homes, and want to stage a goodwill exhibition at year’s end at the Wagah border crossing between India and Pakistan. They wrote to their governments to seek permission for the event.
Qureshi’s grandfather played for India before its partition and the creation of Pakistan at the time of independence, and his mother was a national tennis champion in Pakistan. He drew negative attention at home in 2002 when he partnered Amir Hadad of Israel at Wimbledon, where they reached the third round in the doubles, and at the U.S. Open, where they made the second round.
David Ferrer, the No. 9 seed from Spain, wore a sweat shirt with the “Stop War, Start Tennis” slogan earlier in the week, but said it was handed to him and he was unaware of the goodwill campaign by Bopanna and Qureshi. Israeli player Dudi Sela also didn’t know about the campaign, but it appealed to him.
“It’s a very good idea,” Sela said. “If I can help somehow, I will.”
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