LAHORE, Sept 7: Top tennis player, Aisamul Haq said that Pakistan’s chances on red clay courts in the away Davis Cup World Group playoff tie against Chile were bleak. “Surface advantage goes to the hosts during the Sept 23-25 tie as our players do not have adequate experience of playing on it because there is no red clay surface in Pakistan,” he said on Wednesday.

President’s Pride of Performance award holder Aisam said Chile has 70 percent chances of winning the tie besides having two world’s best players in their ranks Nicholas Massu and Fernanado Gonzalas, who are among top 30 in the world and are the Athens Olympics gold medal winners.

“Surface disadvantage does not mean that they (hosts) should write us off as anything can happen in Davis Cup and some times weaker sides upset strong opponents,” he said adding “we started as underdogs against Thailand and Chinese Taipei in the Asia Oceania Group I ties at home and proved all the predictions wrong by beating them convincingly.”

Pakistan, for the first time in the history has moved to the World Group and a win against Chile can ensure them a place in the elite group and a defeat will send them back to Group I.

He said he pulled out of the Asian championship to regain full fitness to represent the country in the Davis Cup tie.

“I am nursing a sour right shoulder and to avoid further aggravation of the injury which could cause problems for me during the Davis Cup tie I withdrew from the Asian championship,” he asserted.

Aisam said non-stop tennis during the past few months resulted in a painful shoulder injury which his doctor Meesaq Rizvi believed needed full rest for recovery.

“Davis Cup is a very important assignment and I want to be in prime fitness to play in it to inspire my fellow colleagues to attain desired results,” said a soft spoken and humble Aisam, who is doing pool training and some exercises in gym for his shoulder treatment.

“My life time dream is to see Pakistan remaining in World Group among the world’s top 16 teams as at the moment we are in the top 22,” said Aisam who is 120 at worldwide doubles ranking and his ranking in singles has dropped because of the injury as he was unable to defend the points in a few tournaments and now is at 330.

To a question Aisam dispelled the notion that he may not take part in the tie, terming it “rubbish”. He said “I cannot even think of it, this tie is very important for me and I will be in line of my national duty, the way I did in the previous ties, helping the country to qualify for the Group I in the past five years”.

Aisam said in the tie main burden would be on him and Aqeel Khan and he did not want to play half fit. “That is why we have also emphasized on president PTF to make sure that our team travels with our own doctor/physio to help us retain our fitness before and during the tie”.

Pakistan Davis Cup squad comprising Aqeel Khan, Asim Shafiq and Shahzad Khan will leave for Chile on Saturday.

Aisam will join the team on Sept 15 following his doctor’s advice to spend more time at home for recovery.—APP