Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi: Partners in Tennis and in Peace

"It's amazing, what they're doing off the court.  They're promoting world peace, basically.  Two warring countries, and they're playing together.  We're proud of them, everyone is.  And they're doing great things on the court.  We think they're a really tough team, we just barely scraped by them last week.  Both really good guys, well-liked by all the players and fans." -- Mike Bryan.

The recent troubles between India and Pakistan haven't gotten much play in American media, with more of the overseas conflict coverage focused on countries in which American troops are stationed. Violence has become the norm in Kashmir and other parts of the India-Pakistan border, with civilian casualties high in clashes with police forces.

But none of that that has stopped India's Rohan Bopanna and Pakistan's Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi from coming together, partnering for both tennis and for peace.

Bopanna and Qureshi have been doubles partners for the better part of 2010, becoming incredible role models for peace and understanding in the process.

The two haven't made waves off the court, only.  They beat the Bryan Brothers in Washington, and made their first ATP final together in New Haven the week before the US Open. 

Bopanna and Qureshi are the #16 seeds in the Men's Doubles at the US Open, and advanced to the second round with a straight sets win on Tuesday over the team of Ryler deHeart and Brian Battistone.  They take on Michael Kohlmann and Jarkko Nieminen Friday on what will be the first match on Court 6.

After their first round win in Washington, I sat down with Rohan and Aisam together to talk about the tennis and political aspects of their partnership.

TDF: You two played together for a while in 2008, and then stopped playing together until earlier this year.  What made you stop playing together initially, and then also decide to join back up this year?

Rohan Bopanna: With our rankings, we couldn't get into tournaments together.  We were not getting into all the tournaments we wanted to.  That's the only reason we could not play with each other.  Now since we are able to get into the majority of the tournaments, we decided to play together again.  We're playing so well, and combining so well, which makes it easier for us.

TDF: How much of your decision to play together is for tennis-related reasons because you two play well together, and how much is for political reasons? What's the balance there?

Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi: Basically, we started, obviously, to do well in our careers.  And to promote this game in Pakistan and in India.  And to do well for our countries, as well.  But this year we started looking at it a little bigger picture, as well.  About the message of peace, and the message of friendship across the border.  Just making people change their minds about, you know, peace and stuff.  They definitely are taking it, in a good way.  It's very good to see Pakistanis and Indians supporting one team. There were a lot of Pakistanis and Indians in the crowd sitting together.  So it's really nice to see.  If Rohan and me can get along well together on the court, and off the court, there's no reason other Pakistanis and Indians can't get along.  

TDF: So you think that sports can be a positive role model for the rest of the culture?

Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi: I think overall, sport is.  Everywhere in the world, you see football, you see cricket.  It brings nations together, it brings cultures together.  I'm sure tennis is no different from any other sport, and if our relationship together can send a message to anyone around the world, obviously we'll take it as a positive thing.

TDF: What has been the reaction to your pairing in Pakistan?  Happy? Angry? What have you heard?

Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi:  No, people are very supportive.  Everyone who plays tennis, everyone who follows me, they know Rohan very well, and they understand that he's actually helping me to do well in my career, and to get more laurels for my country.  So far I've had no problems at all back home, and they're all very very happy that we're doing well in our careers.

TDF: Is it the same thing for you in India?

Rohan Bopanna: Absolutely, absolutely it's been the same.  Only from the media, which asks questions about why we play together, but apart from that everybody knows we have individual careers, and we just find partners on the tour to see who we do well with, so we can keep playing on the circuit.  That's what we've been doing, and basically everything is from a tennis perspective, nothing else.

TDF: The Bryan Brothers, who you play in the next round, just set a record for most titles as a pair, because they've stayed together for so long.  Do you two hope to stay together for as long as you can, or are you going to see how this goes?

Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi: Obviously, the Bryan brothers don't have a choice because they're brothers, and they do so well together.  I don't see any reason why we can't play all the way together, it all depends on if we keep doing well.  If we win grand slams like they have done, keep winning titles every week, there's no reason for us to split.  But obviously, for some reasons, partners do switch, and I think we both are pretty professional about it.  If Rohan feels that I'm not a good enough player to make him get a level where he wants to be, then I'll definitely appreciate it.  And I think the same goes for him.  But so far, things are going very well.   He has ranking in his career, I've reached my highest ranking, so right now we're just enjoying it and taking it one match a time.  We'll see how it goes.

TDF: I believe you [Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi] were playing before with a player from Israel [Amir Hadad]?  So was that also for somewhat larger purposes with Muslim-Jew relations?

Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi: No, I've never taken it from that perspective.  I try to play with anybody I can.  There aren't many Muslims on the tour, anyway, so the only players I can play with are Christians, Hindus, or Jews.  I don't have any other options--there are no other Pakistanis on the tour, either.  So if I won't play with someone different, I can't play tennis.  For me, the main concern is to do well in my career, and to get laurels for my country, and I don't actually care whether it's Christian, Hindu, or Jew.  It's just for me to do well.

Rohan Bopanna: Especially when we're playing tennis, we don't look at somebody as what country they're from.  We just see what ranking he is.  If we can get in the tournament together, we just go ahead and play it together.   At that point in time, we are definitely not thinking of what the country is.   Like in Toronto, next week, we cannot get in together [combined ranking too low], so we have to try to find different partners.  Whoever comes in, we are ready to play with.

TDF: Talking about you two and your pairing, I asked Marcos Baghdatis, from Cyprus, if he would ever play with a player from Turkey, and he said "no." What are your thoughts on that?

Rohan Bopanna: It's his personal thoughts.  For us, absolutely everybody has their personal choice, and for him it's personal as well to say no to that.  But in our case, we are absolutely open to everything.  I don't see why I can't play with a Pakistani--there's no reason.  

Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi: It's just about personal choices, I think.  I got so much negative press when I played with a Jewish guy, also.  There are a lot of extremists, there are a lot people who didn't want me to play with him.  A lot of times I've been told not to even play against an Israeli, either.  So playing WITH him was a huge deal for a lot of people, but it's a personal choice.

TDF: Have you heard similar things about playing with Rohan?

Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi: No, no.  After that first incident, everything got resolved, and they just realize that all I'm doing is just trying to do well in my career, and to do well in tennis and for Pakistan.  They realize that, and they realize that Rohan is helping me in that cause, so everyone is doing alright.  

TDF: If you two were able to win, for example, the US Open together, what do you think that would mean for India-Pakistan relations?  Could you become a model of relations between the two countries?

Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi: I don't see why not.  I think it would be a huge thing.  I think our success at Wimbledon created a lot of hype.  Last week in Los Angeles, there were drivers who actually knew about us, and they were like "we love your campaign of Stop War, Start Tennis."   So it was good to see that the message is going across, especially to The States, as well.  So yeah, definitely we would love to win Wimbledon, get a grand slam with him.  It would be like icing on the cake.