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Ahmad Saleem, the son of Faisal and Rehana Saleem, won the Arizona Tennis State Championship with a comeback 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over Tucson Salpointe Catholic’s Mitch McDaniels Saturday, May 5th at the Paseo Racquet Club in Glendale.
This is a first time a Muslim youth in the valley won a State title in tennis paving a way and inspiration for others to follow.
Congratulations to Ahmad for this huge accomplishment. The proud parents Faisal and Rehana deserve equal accolades for their dedication and hard work in raising Ahmad to reach for lofty goals.
Saleem aces wind, McDaniels to win boys tennis title By Nick Ruland, For the Tribune For most competitors at the tennis state championships at Paseo Raquet Club on Saturday, furious winds sent struck tennis balls into unpredictable paths, forcing milli-second adjustments to mid-air oscillations.
For those who stayed long enough to watch, the true force of nature came off the bowed strings of Desert Vista’s Ahmad Saleem’s racquet, whose high-velocity serves cut through the draft as if his right arm was a jet propeller.
Saleem, the two seed, took home the 5A Division I state championship, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, in an epic match against Tucson Salpointe’s Mitch McDaniels.
For two hours the duo exchanged dizzying volleys, grunts and moans preceding pinpoint shots that seemed to skirt every inch of the sideline and baselines.
“Nothing worth having is easy,” Saleem said. “It was one of the most memorable matches I’ve played in. The rhythm wasn’t there at first. I had to get used to the wind and all the people.”
Saleem found himself in an early hole, losing the first set 2-6. That’s when he turned his serve to warp-speed. “Those big serves, you don’t know what to do with,” Desert Vista coach Wayne Brimley said.
Saleem, who worked on mental self-realization exercises with Brimley in the days leading up to the match, believed he began to wear down his opponent in the second set.
“You can notice someone is breaking,” Saleem said. “They start to get frustrated.”
While Saleem did not appear to emote, McDaniels was demonstrative in the ups and downs of the match.
Like going from a 100 mile per hour fast ball to a knuckle ball, Saleem went to his “disguised drop-shot”, faking a hard forehand by slowing his arm speed at the last second, tilting his racquet like a Phil Mickelson pitching wedge and back-spun it into the net with one bounce after it barely fluttered over the tape.
“I would say that this is probably the top (match) for (Saleem),” Brimley said. “By far this was the most physically and mentally ready he has been.”
Chaparral’s Jake Allan finished third in 5A-II singles by defeating Ironwood Ridge’s Conor Spiegel 6-0, 6-2 and Dobson’s Jake Spizman finished fourth in 5A-1 singles.
http://varsity.evtrib.com/story/153236
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