Filed under: U.S. OpenNEW 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.
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