Country | India |
---|---|
Residence | Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
Born | January 1, 1970 Calcutta, India |
Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) |
Turned pro | 1988 |
Retired | 1995 |
Plays | Right-handed |
Career prize money | US$45,664 |
Singles | |
Career record | 4–13 |
Career titles | 0 |
Highest ranking | 126 (12 Dec 1988) |
Grand Slam results | |
Australian Open | n/a |
French Open | n/a |
Wimbledon | 1r (1988) |
US Open | n/a |
Doubles | |
Career record | 3–7 |
Career titles | 0 |
Highest ranking | 149 (14 Nov 1988) |
Zeeshan Ali (born January 19, 1970 in Calcutta) is a former tennis player from India, who competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, where he was defeated in the second round by the number ten seed from Switzerland, Jakob Hlasek.
The right-hander reached his highest singles ATP-ranking on December 12, 1988, when he became the number 126 of the world when he was still 3 weeks short of his 19th birthday.
He remained in the top-150 (with the exception of a couple of weeks) through August 1989. His singles highlights in 1988 included making R2 of the ATP tour event in Schenectady (losing to Kriek in R2) and at the Seoul Olympics (where he lost to Hlasek in R2), and making the final of a Challenger in New Haven, CT (losing to Vijay Amritraj) and the semifinal of a Challenger in Indonesia. This decent set of performances had taken Zeeshan to 178 in the singles rankings in November 1988, but he then dominated a Satellite circuit in India—and jumped to a career-high 126 on 12 December 1988. At the end of 1988, Zeeshan's doubles ranking was at 154.
In 1989, Zeeshan made the QF of a Challenger in Nigeria early in the year, and then qualified into tour events in Key Biscayne, Tokyo (where he beat Leif Shiras before losing to Stefan Edberg in R2), Singapore and London (Queen's Club). In 1989 he played his only Grand Slam match, losing in straight sets to Wally Masur at Wimbledon.
In 1989, he made R2 of doubles at Wimbledon (losing to the seeded pair of Curren/Pate in four sets), and WON two Challenger doubles titles (in Kuala Lumpur and Beijing). In 1988, he had also made R2 of the Wimbledon doubles (with Mark Ferreira), two Challenger doubles finals (one with Mark) and four Challenger semi-finals (one of them with 37 year old Anand Amritraj). Even in 1990, he won a Challenger doubles title (in Winnetka, IL) and made another Challenger doubles final (in Kenya), although playing a much lighter schedule. But after 1991, Zeeshan was mainly playing Futures and Satellites (plus only the occasional Challenger) in India and SE Asia.
He is currently married with two kids and coaches in Dubai.