Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi has announced that during the 2016 season he will partner with Briton Jonathan (Jonny) Marray. The Pakistan number one is currently ranked 37th in the world with Marray being ranked 53rd (rankings taken from ATP World Tour). This will not be the first time that the pairing have played together, in July 2015 they teamed up and won the ATP 250 at Newport, Rhode Island.
Qureshi Speaks On His New Found Partnership
Departing for Australia, Qureshi confirmed that they had been training together. “I along with Jonathan Marray had trained for two weeks in Singapore and we have developed good understanding. He had experience of playing at the highest level and is a really good quality tennis player. We both can win a number of titles together." Marray of course is an ex-Wimbledon Champion as along side Freddie Nielsen. The pair won the men's doubles at the All England Club in 2012, having entered as a wildcard pairing they knocked out several seeded pairings along they way.
Marray and Nielsen parted company after this achievement, and Marray has played with several partners since then, including fellow Brit Colin Fleming with whom he won several titles. This pairing unfortunately did not last long and soon Marray was without a regular partner again. It was in the summer of last season that Marray and Qureshi first decided to play together, and won the title in Newport.
The Brit/Pakistani pairing look to be forming a regular playing partnership as they have trained together and seemingly have developed a good understanding of each others game, something always useful for a successful doubles team.
Marray has a good game and plays well in doubles and with the right partner, the Brit can go far in events. The pairing of Qureshi and Marray look to be heading in the right direction, if both stay healthy expect to see titles heading their way. Success at the Australian Open will be first on their agenda as this will be a goal of every doubles pairing in the event, so taking the title will be difficult for whichever pair win the overall event. A good showing in the first slam of the year will bode well for the Brit/Pakistani pairing and should lead onto a very good 2016 season.