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Asif Ismail (born 30 September 1970) is a formertennis player who has the rare distinction of representing two countries in theDavis Cup, firstIndia and laterHong Kong.[1][2]
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.[3]
Despite never winning a tour singles match aboveSatellite level[1], Ismail played two singles matches for India in a 1994 World Group Play-off tie againstSouth Africa. He lost the two live rubbers both in straight sets, to South African No. 1Wayne Ferreira andMarcos Ondruska.
The next month Ismail won the Asian Games tennis tournament.[citation needed] He reached his highest ATP singles ranking in December 1995, when he becameWorld No. 412. His best tour result was reaching the quarter-finals of theChallenger event inGoa in late October 1995. He competed in the main draw of anATP Tour event once, in doubles at the1996 India Open. He and partnerGaurav Natekar, a wild-card entry, lost in the first round to the No. 1 seedsByron Black andSandon Stolle, 4-6, 5-7.
Ismail received theArjuna award, the biggest sports-related award in India, in 1997.
Ismail represented Hong Kong in a2003 Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Zone Group II tie versusTajikistan. He played in 3 matches, winning his two live rubbers, as Hong Kong defeated Tajikistan 4-1. He again teamed withJohn Hui to compete in the doubles rubber the following year versus thePhilippines in a group play-off tie, but the pair lost in straight sets as Hong Kong fell, 1-4.
During the 2006 season, Ismail had his debut as a coach inGrand Slam tournaments, coachingSania Mirza during theFrench Open andWimbledon.
Ismail currently teaches at the Aberdeen Marina Club inHong Kong, which is managed by Peter Burwash International (seePeter Burwash). 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.
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