By Moin Salahuddin of the UCLA Daily Bruin
This is the first part in a series of interviews with Pakistani Davis Cup and UCLA tennis phenom Hassan Akmal. A 25 year-old Muslim blessed with superior athletic traits, Akmal will be graduating this summer from UCLA after completing the pre-med requirements, a degree in history, and a minor in Arabic. Being almost a triple major with a pre-med emphasis, Akmal originally sought to become a pediatrician.
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But possessing a 140 mile per hour serve and the mental toughness and maturity of one at least twenty years his elder, Akmal refocused his attack and now is seeking to take the ATP Tour by storm and become a professional tennis player. This choice, however, is not merely for the money or the acclaim. “I want to choose the route that will contribute the most to Islam - tennis,” Akmal exclaimed.
How has playing tennis at a school like UCLA got you prepared for the ATP Tour?
“UCLA was the #1 ranked team every year I was a part of it, PAC-10 Team Champions more than once, National Indoor Team Champions every year, NCAA Finalists one year, and this year we are expected to win the NCAA Championship. Basically it gives me the opportunity to compete with the best collegiates, and give me a jump-start into the pros. It has a very big reputation with Haroon Rahim, Justin Gimelstob, Jimmy Connors, and other pros coming out of this university. The program here is intense and well known. Our coach, Billy Martin, was also the national coach of the year a few times... I couldn’t ask for anything better.”
How has participating in the Davis Cup for Pakistan got you prepared for the ATP Tour?
“When you play Davis Cup, you compete with every nation’s elite, travel with the national team, train with the top players from your country, and truly feel like a champion. You are a hero to your country, and it drives you to excel and give that much more, especially when there is so much at stake and you want your country to win. When you play at that level consistently throughout the year, you get used to the pressure and attention as a celebrity, and that helps you perform better on the ATP Tour...”
What is a typical day of training for you?
“My typical training day includes: 30-40 minutes stretching before and after practice, a mile warm-up run, 2 hours of tennis, 20 minutes of sprints and footwork drills, 2 more hours of tennis, possibly a match, then two hours in the gym... sometimes I may substitute the gym for a 3-mile run or for another hour of tennis, ex. serving.”
For pre-training, you’ll be participating in the Mercedes-Benz Cup Tournament at UCLA in July and then several satellites in and around Southern California. Is there much pressure here to perform well and show yourself, your supporters, and your sponsors that you are ready for the pros?
“Definitely. I am beginning with a Super 9 Professional Tournament, that’s like starting at Wimbledon almost! The competition will be as stiff as can be, and my sponsors all expect wins right away. They sometimes don’t understand that many pros lose their first round match in every tournament their first year before they start winning and really moving up in the ranks. I know I am ready and I will prove myself again and again...”
In December, you are planning on participating in several international tournaments. How tough a transition will it be for you to play abroad? What do you look forward to the most and the least as you’ll make your debut on the ATP Tour scene?
“Davis Cup has really helped me in the international sense. I am used to traveling and now know how to adjust to new court conditions. I don’t think it will be that tough, the hardest part will be being away from home for so long and being on your own... I am looking forward to all the beautiful cities all over the world that I will get to see, the competition, and simply living my dream...”
When will you know that you have finally “made it” on the ATP Tour?
“Making it usually means breaking the top 300, really making it means breaking into the top 100. You cannot really make it that high in one year or even two years, it takes three or four years, people don’t realize this... although I have a one year pro contract, what will I do when the funds run out? Even if I win every tournament, agents won’t sign you usually until after a few years... so that means I am on my own till then. Insha’Allah somehow, someone, somewhere, will see my potential and support me that second and third year, and then the agent will take care of the rest once I’m established...”
I understand that you are very religious. How important has Islam been to you with respect to tennis and what role will Islam have in your future tennis success?
Islam is everything. Allah has blessed me with a gift and I don’t know how far tennis will take me, Allahu’alam, but I do realize how far it has already taken me. I have much to be thankful for and will accept my fate. There is a reason why I have become a great tennis player, alhamdulilah, but there will also be a reason why I will retire when I do, maybe next year, in three years, or even ten years. That is up to Allah... It is already written. I can only give my best and try to follow the straight path, my success is from Allah and that will never change.
It’s 2005 and you are in the main draw of the U.S. Open. What is going to happen?
“I am going to win insha’Allah-tala, and not just win, win big, and I am going to win with a crescent and moon painted on the back of my T-shirt, voicing Islam in every way I can, and then I am going to donate my earnings to a Muslim cause, not a percentage, but ALL.”
Give me one word to best describe your tennis game:
“POWER!!!”