(November 7, 2012) -- Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, Pakistan’s greatest tennis champion and highly regarded world humanitarian, announced today that his book Stop War, Start Tennis: Lessons of Life and Understanding From a Pakistani Tennis Player is now available for sale as an e-book electronically on Kindle at Amazon.com
Stop War, (available for $4.99 in the United States) details inspiring stories of the life and tennis career of Qureshi, Pakistan’s most celebrated tennis player, with the hopes of inspiring people to learn from both defeats and triumphs in sports or other endeavors.
“I am excited to make my story available to a wider global audience and hope that it can inspire people in their daily lives,” said Qureshi. "I have been blessed to have many experiences – good and bad – in my lifetime that have taught me many great lessons about life and understanding and I am pleased to share them with people around the world.”
The hard-cover version of the book was originally launched in Pakistan earlier this year under the title Lessons Learnt From The Tennis Tour. The book was co-written with Qureshi’s coach Robert Davis, also a contributor to such outlets as the ATP World Tour’s Deuce magazine, Tennis.com, Tennis Magazine Australia, the Bangkok Post, the Jakarta Post, among others.
Qureshi and his current doubles partner Jean-Julien Rojer of The Netherlands are among eight of the world’s best doubles team competing this week in the year-end Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. Qureshi and Rojer were semifinalists this year at the US Open and the French Open and won titles in Halle, Germany and Estoril, Portugal.
Qureshi gained international recognition when as a Muslim from Pakistan, he partnered with Amir Hadad, a Jew from Israel, at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2002. Their partnership received much international media attention and their photo appeared as the lead, above-the-fold image on the front page of The New York Times during the US Open, where they reached the third round. He was also placed in the spotlight in 2010 when he partnered and reached the US Open doubles final with Rohan Bopanna, a leading player from India, a nation with political differences with that of Qureshi’s Pakistan. Shortly after his US Open success (he also reached the mixed doubles final) Qureshi founded his non-profit foundation (www.StopWarStartTennis.org), created with the purpose of bringing hope through tennis to all those affected by war, sectarian conflict and landmines/unexploded ordinance.
Said Qureshi of his foundation, “Whether it be wheelchair tennis projects in Sri Lanka and Cambodia or amputee centers in Iraq, to displaced peoples in Sierra Leone and Rwanda, I truly believe that our great sport of tennis can bring some joy and happiness into the lives of the young and old.”
Qureshi is a two-time winner of the ATP World Tour’s Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year award (in 2002 with Hadad and 2010 with Bopanna) and in 2010 he was named a goodwill ambassador to the United Nations Development Program. In 2010, he was awarded the “Sitara-i-Imtiaz” (Star of Excellence) by the Government of Pakistan and also was given the Pakistan President’s Award for Performance in 2002, the Salam Pakistan Youth Award by the President of Pakistan in 2007 and, in 2003, he was a finalist for the Anne Frank Award For Moral Courage presented by the Anne Frank Trust.
Said the 12-time major doubles champion doubles team and 2012 Olympic gold medalists Bob and Mike Bryan of Qureshi in a mutual statement, “Aisam is not only a very talented player but we also have great respect for him as a human being. What he is doing on and off the court is helping and inspiring people around the world. Aisam has already created a great legacy that will be remembered for years.”
(image courtesy of TennisGrandstand)