Tennis. An innate/inborn Talent?

Aisam Ul haq is the second Pakistani to qualify for the Wimbledon after a period of 40 years. Aisam qualified for Wimbledon after 6 attempts. He has played twice in Wimbledon, even reached quater finals in one.

Aisam's mother, Nausheen Ihtisham, has been a 10 time Pakistan no.1, a national Champion.

Aisam' maternal grandfather, khawaja iftikhar ahmad, was the all India no.1 before partition.

Aisam has been an under 16 number 1, under 18 number 1. World number 7 in juniors and Asia number 1.

Aisam got a tip from Martina Navratilova's (who reached 12 Wimbledon singles , including 9 consecutive years from 82-90 and has won a record 9 Wimbledon Women's Singles titles) coach saying that Martina, used to write down her goals and ambitions everyday believing that

"once you write this down, you believe you belong there, so there is no mental pressure. Self belief is very important if you want to achieve something."

Aisam accordingly started writing in his memoir that " I am going to qualify for Wimbledon" from January till June 2007 believing that one day he will qualify. And he did, Aisam went on to become the first Pakistani in 40 years to play a Grand Slam tournament and the second Pakistani to reach the second round of wimbledon.

Aisam believes "In any field target setting is very important for everyone. Thats the only way

you get motivated about playing or training hard. Some people keep long term targets, some

keep short term targets. I just realised that its better to keep short term targets.Long term

become frustrating if you dont achieve them. One should keep targets according to ones

"heysiat",

otherwise there are alot of disappointments. In my past i used to dream really big, I will do

this i will do that and when i didnt achieve them i had to step back.

Exposure taught me this. You learn from your mistakes. I had big hopes and all that

and because of that i suffered alot in personal life and in sports. Now i keep them small

and if i keep achieving them, the motivation keeps on increasing and it makes you work

harder."