Tennis federation seeks wildcard entry for Huzaifa

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) has written a letter to its Turkish counterpart seeking a wildcard entry for ace junior player Huzaifa Abdul Rehman for the ITF Juniors Grade 3, Cup 1 and Cup 2 to be held there in April.

“Huzaifa has been performing well in tennis and has proven his worth in the past three years, at both International and National levels,” a PTF official told Associted Press of Pakistan.

Huzaifa, who annexed the ITF Pakistan World Junior Ranking Tennis Championships boys’ singles title on Saturday, said he deems to play in the Grand Slam tournaments and make country’s name proud.

Huzaifa has been training extensively to prove his worth in the game. He took a one-year break from tennis to focus on his training, after he finished Asian No. 2 in under-14 category in 2016.

In 2017, he attended a four-month training session at Potter’s Wheel Tennis Academy, Beijing under the supervision of Carlos Rodriguez, the coach of former World No. 1, Justine Henin.

In May 2018, he underwent a10-week training at Koza WOS, Istanbul under the watchful eyes of Gavin Hooper, the coach of Monica Seles and Marian Cilic.

“Those long hours of tough training regimes have helped me a lot. My fitness level has increased and I feel myself fully prepared for the future assignments,” he said.

Last year, Huzaifa was the only Pakistani among over 1300 top ranked tennis players from across the world to participate in Junior Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships in Florida, USA which was an honor for the country.

Huzaifa’s coach and father Col (r) Muhammad Faisal who had been doing uphill struggle in making his son a tennis star, said Huzaifa is an incredible young talent, who is improving with each passing day. “I believe he has a bright future ahead of him in the sport,” he said.