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NEW YORK -- The Pakistani and Indian ambassadors to the U.N. sat next to each other to watch a tennis match Wednesday at the U.S. Open. These two men from countries that are always warring or threatening, nuclear neighbors, sat together and cheered for the same players to hit a ball over a net.Imagine that.
"It was a beautiful thing to see,'' said Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, of Pakistan, one of the players. He and partner Rohan Bopanna of India had just beaten Eduardo Schwank and Horacio Zeballos 7-6, 6-4 to advance to the Open finals. "If me and Rohan can get along so well on and off the court, there's no reason the Indians and Pakistanis can't get along with each other."
Tennis diplomacy. Qureshi can feel it. He's getting more and more emotional as the tournament goes on and he realizes that he's not only having the moment of his career, but also becoming a force for change, for peace.
More Couch: Doubles Team Promotes Peace Through Sports
These things are going together, hand-in-hand. Bopanna and Qureshi have been together for five years -- and played together a few times before that -- and were frankly not playing doubles together to make any social or political statement.
They just both needed a doubles partner.
No one really noticed when they were toiling in the minors for a while, and then they reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon this year, wearing jackets that said, "Stop War, Start Tennis.''
And people started to pay attention. Now, they have reached the final of a major championship for the first time. On Friday, they'll play Bob and Mike Bryan, the American doubles dynasty, for the title.
This is the best story at the U.S. Open, but it's only now catching on.
I've been able to follow them and get to know them these past two weeks. They played on an outer court in the first round with a small crowd in tiny bleachers. In the second round, they were on another outer court, away from the stadiums. But some Vietnam vets asked their coach, Robert Davis, if they could buy some "Stop War, Start Tennis" T-shirts.
He didn't have any.
They were moved to the Grandstand court for the quarterfinals, the smallest stadium. But only about 700 people were there. And on Wednesday, they were up to Armstrong Stadium, the second biggest one, as their story and message have grown.
"We always said sports can reach places where no religion or politics or politician can reach ... You know, seeing both ambassadors sitting together and going for one cause obviously is a start."
-- Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi "We always said sports can reach places where no religion or politics or politician can reach ...'' Qureshi said. "You know, seeing both ambassadors sitting together and going for one cause obviously is a start. And like Rohan says all the time: if you can change (a) few personal people's minds on Indian or Pakistan's side, I think it's a great thing.
"And I'm seeing that every day (the) crowd is getting better. More Indians and Pakistanis coming. They're all mixed together sitting in the crowd. You can't tell who is Pakistani and who is Indian. That's the beauty about sports. That's the beauty about, I guess, us playing.''
It is also part of the beauty of tennis, a truly international sport with players traveling together around the world.
Qureshi has been getting more and more emotional about this. After each match, he and Bopanna stay and sign autographs, take pictures with fans. They walk through the crowds back to the locker room, stopping to talk to anyone who wants.
I wonder if it means even a little more to Qureshi. Pakistan is the place with the flooding and current terrorism and even a major gambling scandal in cricket.
But also, Qureshi, who's 30, partnered with an Israeli player, Amir Hadad, in 2002. They also weren't trying to make a statement. But the Pakistani tennis federation told him it would stop supporting him, prevent him from playing on its Davis Cup team, if he even took the court with Hadad.
He stood strong, risked plenty, told his federation that it can't mix politics and sports. They played at Wimbledon. And then the United States Tennis Association offered him a wild-card entry into the U.S. Open -- a free pass usually given to Americans -- where he was given a humanitarian award.
A few months ago, Qureshi was just an unknown tennis player, struggling to get his career going with Bopanna while taking online courses toward a Masters degree. When he comes into the U.S. he endures three hours to get through customs, with his eyes scanned, his fingerprints taken each time.
On Thursday, Qureshi will also be in the mixed doubles final. On Friday, the men's doubles final with Bopanna will be at Ashe Stadium, the biggest tennis stadium in the world.
When you win a title, you are handed a microphone to talk to the crowd. Qureshi is excited not only about the possibility of being a champion, but also, he wants that microphone.
"I do want to say a few words, and hopefully I get a chance and opportunity,'' he said. "I feel like the western world and America, they have the wrong perception about Muslim and Pakistan.
"We do have terrorist groups. We do have extremists. But I feel like every religion there are extremists there. It doesn't mean that the whole nation is terrorist or extremist. Pakistan is a very peace-loving country.''
Both players said they haven't heard one negative thing since they teamed up. They have been taken aback by Indians cheering for Qureshi and Pakistanis pulling for Bopanna.
Meanwhile, they are becoming one of the world's best doubles teams, and are going to be sending a message wherever they go now.
One more thing: when the match ended Wednesday, the ambassadors congratulated and thanked the players. They also said they would be back Friday.
E-mail me at gregcouch09@aol.com. Follow me on Twitter @gregcouch
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