Asif Ismail (born 30 September 1970) is a former

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player who has the rare distinction of representing two countries in the

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...

, first

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and later

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Career

Ismail won the singles title in the national championship in 1993 defeating Vasudeva Reddy 3–6, 6–3, 6–2, 2–6, 8–6 in the final.

Representing India

Despite never winning a tour singles match above

Satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

leve

Ismail played two singles matches for India in a 1994 World Group Play-off tie against South Africa Davis Cup team, South Africa. He lost the two live rubbers both in straight sets, to South African No. 1

Wayne Ferreira Wayne Richard Ferreira (born 15 September 1971) is a South African former professional tennis player and current tennis coach. Career As a junior player, Ferreira was ranked world no. 1 junior doubles player and no. 6 junior singles player. He ...

and

Marcos Ondruska Marcos Ondruska (born 18 December 1972) is a former tennis player from South Africa, who turned professional in 1989. He represented his native country at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, where he defeated Goran Ivanišević in th ...

. The next month Ismail won the Asian Games tennis tournament. He reached his highest ATP singles ranking in December 1995, when he became World No. 412. His best tour result was reaching the quarter-finals of the

Challenger Challenger, Challengers, or The Challengers may refer to: Entertainment Comics and manga * Challenger (character), comic book character * ''Challengers'' (manga), manga by Hinako Takanaga Film and TV * ''The Challengers'' (TV series), a 1979 ...

event in

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

in late October 1995. He competed in the main draw of an

ATP Tour The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour. The equivalent women's organis ...

event once, in doubles at the

1996 India Open The 1996 India Open was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts in New Delhi in India and was part of the World Series of the 1996 ATP Tour. It was the inaugural edition of the tournament and took place from 8 April through 14 A ...

. He and partner

Gaurav Natekar Gaurav Natekar (born 4 April 1972) is a seven-time Indian National Tennis Champion. He was awarded the Arjuna Award in 1996 for Tennis. His father, Nandu M. Natekar, was a national-level Indian badminton champion. Achievements *Represented th ...

, a wild-card entry, lost in the first round to the No. 1 seeds

Byron Black Byron Hamish Black (born 6 October 1969) is a former touring professional tennis and Davis Cup player for Zimbabwe. Personal life He is the son of Donald Black and Velia Black and brother to Wayne Black and Cara, who were also professional ten ...

and

Sandon Stolle Sandon Stolle (born 13 July 1970) is a former professional male tennis player and at one time ranked No. 2 in World doubles. Sandon is the son of Australian tennis champion Fred Stolle, the former was born in Sydney and now lives in Aventura, ...

, 4-6, 5-7. Ismail received the

Arjuna award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

, the biggest sports-related award in India, in 1997.

Representing Hong Kong

Ismail represented Hong Kong in a

2003 Davis Cup The 2003 Davis Cup was the 92nd edition of the most important tournament between nations in men's tennis. A total of 135 nations participated in the tournament. In the final, Australia defeated Spain at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia, ...

Asia/Oceania Zone Group II tie versus

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

. He played in 3 matches, winning his two live rubbers, as Hong Kong defeated Tajikistan 4-1. He again teamed with John Hui to compete the doubles rubber the following year versus the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

in a group play-off tie, but the pair lost in straight sets as Hong Kong fell, 1-4.

Post-playing career

During the 2006 season, Ismail had his debut as a coach in

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

tournaments, coaching

Sania Mirza Sania Mirza (; born 15 November 1986) is an Indian professional tennis player. A former doubles world No. 1, she has won six major titles – three in women's doubles and three in mixed doubles. From 2003 until her retirement from singles in ...

during the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

and

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

. Ismail currently teaches at the Aberdeen Marina Club in

, which is managed by Peter Burwash International (see

Peter Burwash Peter Burwash (10 February 1945 – 7 July 2022) was a Canadian No. 1 tennis player and coach. He was a right-handed player in the 1960s and 1970s, winning the 1971 Canadian National Championships singles (closed) and the 1971 Quebec Open sing ...

). He coaches groups from beginners to advanced, and is one of the best in HK. His fellow coaches at the AMC are, Avinash Advani, Katalin Bulcsu, J.D. Shade, and Luis Gracia. He teaches groups from beginner to advanced. He coached the AMC team to the 16 and under prince cup. The team included Kabir Laroia, Oliver Kilpatrick, Dhruv Malhotra, Jackie Tang, Claire Spackman, Caroline Jensen, Rehan Haider, Nicolas Fuchs, Amaan Ismail and more.

References

External links

* * Asian Games medalists in tennis Hong Kong male tennis players Hong Kong Muslims Hong Kong people of Indian descent Indian emigrants to Hong Kong Indian male tennis players Indian Muslims Recipients of the Arjuna Award Living people 1970 births Tennis players at the 1994 Asian Games Medalists at the 1994 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for India {{india-tennis-bio-stub