Haroon Rahim (born 12 November 1949) is a Pakistani former tennis player. The former Pakistani and Asian No. 1. He was active from 1965 to 1978 and won 12 singles tour titles.
Rahim was the youngest tennis player ever to play for Pakistan in the Davis Cup at 15 years of age. He was also the highest ranking Pakistani tennis player (a career-high singles ranking of World No. 34 in October 1977). He led the UCLA team to victory with Jeff Borowiak and Jimmy Connors in 1970–71 and was 1971 NCAA doubles champion with Jeff Borowiak.
Career
Rahim was from the Punjab city of Lahore, from a large family of avid tennis players. His father, Mir Abdur Rahim, was a civil servant who encouraged his children, sons and daughters, to play tennis. Four of Haroon's elder siblings; M. Nasim, M. Naeem, Zulficar and Shahnaz were also national tennis champions. His father loved tennis so much that he said he wanted to die on the tennis court. In 1968, he died of a heart attack while playing doubles with friends at the picturesque Mayo Gardens, Lahore.
He played and won his first tournament in the easter of 1965 at the Huddersfield Open in England.
Rahim was only the second Pakistani after Khawaja Saeed Hai to make it to Wimbledon's main draw. After reaching the Wimbledon Junior Boys singles quarterfinals twice (1965 and 1967) he went on to play in several Grand Slams, in both singles and doubles.
He won twelve tour titles on the ILTF World Circuit including the Ojai Championships the Northumberland Championships and Cranleigh Open all in 1969.
In 1970, he won the U.S. National Amateur Grass Court Championships and the March of Dimes Open against Jimmy Connors.
In 1971, he won the Palm Springs International.
Rahim also won two ATP titles, the first at the Arkansas International in Little Rock against former Wimbledon runner up Alex Metreveli of the Soviet Union and then the second at National Tennis Foundation Open in Cleveland against Colin Dibley, both in 1976.
He lost a final to Spanish US Open winner and French Open finalist Manuel Orantes. He won three doubles titles, at Oslo in 1974, North Conway in 1975, and Little Rock in 1978. In men's doubles at Grand Slam events, he made it to the quarterfinals of the US Open, the third round of Wimbledon, and the second round of the French Open.
Rahim is the winner of one of the closest matches ever played when he beat Tom Gorman 6–7(3–5), 7–6(5–1), 7–6(5–4) at the Pennsylvania Lawn Tennis Championships. As both players never lost their serve, each set went to a tie break with Haroon winning the match by just one point.
He played his last tour event at the Surrey Hard Court Championships on clay in 1978.
Last known to be in the U.S., Haroon retired from tennis at age 29, severed contact with his family, and his whereabouts are unknown.
Grand Slams performance timelines
Singles
Tournament 19711972 1975 1976 1977 Australian OpenAAAAAFrench OpenA1R2RAAWimbledonAAA2R2RUS Open3RAAAA
Doubles
Tournament 1971 1972 1976 Australian Open A AAFrench Open A2RAWimbledon A A3RUS OpenQF AA
ATP career finals
Singles (2 titles, 3 runners-up)
ResultW–LDateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss 0–1 Mar 1972 Altamira International Invitation Hard Manuel Orantes 4–6, 5–7, 4–6Win 1–1 Jan 1976 National Tennis Foundation Open Carpet Alex Metreveli 6–4, 6–4Win 2–1 Mar 1976 Arkansas International Tennis Tournament Hard (i) Colin Dibley 6–4, 7–5Loss 2–2 Jan 1977 Arkansas International Tennis Tournament Hard (i) Sandy Mayer 2–6, 4–6
Doubles (3 titles, 3 runners-up)
ResultW–LDateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss 0–1 Feb 1971 New York City, United States Carpet Jimmy Connors Juan Gisbert Sr Manuel Orantes 6–7, 2–6Win 1–1 Nov 1974 Oslo, Norway Hard (i) Karl Meiler Jeff Borowiak Vitas Gerulaitis6–3, 6–2Win 2–1 Aug 1975 North Conway, United States Clay Erik van Dillen John Alexander Phil Dent7–6, 7–6Loss 2–2 Oct 1975 Maui, United States Hard Jeff Borowiak Fred McNair Sherwood Stewart 6–3, 6–7, 3–6Loss 2–3 Mar 1976 Little Rock, United States Hard (i) Giuliano Pecci Syd Ball Ray Ruffels 3–6, 7–6, 3–6Win 3–3 Jan 1977 Little Rock, United States Hard (i) Colin Dibley Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan 6–7, 6–3, 6–3
References
External links
Haroon Rahim: The greatest tennis player Pakistan has ever produced