A tennis trailblazer
Akhter Hossain fell in love with tennis at a very early age, playing for fun at the Jamalpur Officers' Club. He was playing both cricket and tennis simultaneously, and could easily have forged a career in cricket like his friend, neighbour and playing partner, former Bangladesh national cricketer Rokibul Hasan did.
But his proficiency in tennis was a bit too high to escape the attention of local authorities. As a result, he was soon invited to represent the club at the national Under-14 level. Despite being quite a novice at that stage, Akhter did exceptionally well and reached the final of the tournament where he eventually lost to future national champion Amol Roy.
He rose through the ranks fast, and got admitted into the Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishthan (BKSP). While a student there, he represented the nation in the Davis Cup and other tournaments as his dream was beginning to take shape.
But the youngster soon realised that, with the state of the game in the country, it would be farfetched for him to dream of forging a decent living by playing tennis, let alone become a tour player. As luck would have it, it was during that time in 2005 that he, along with two other students, got an offer for a training course from the Potter's Wheel Tennis Academy in Beijing.
That one offer seemingly changed the course of his life. The now 31-year-old, a coach of the under-14 professionals at the academy, works under the direct guidance of Carlos Rodriguez, the career-long coach of Belgium's seven-time Grand Slam winner Justine Henin and China's two-time Grand Slam winner and former World No. 2 Li-Na, among others. Akhter had the opportunity to work with Henin herself for a while at the academy in 2010. After more than a decade helping youngsters to become tour professionals and working with some of the big names in the game, Akhter feels he has no regrets in giving up playing for this job.
“I feel good about it, honing skills of players who are ranked within the top 50 in the junior ITF circuit and will soon be playing Grand Slams,” he said yesterday during a conversation with The Daily Star, while in Bangladesh on vacation for a knee ligament surgery.
“I had dreams of becoming a player during my early years. But this job has certainly made up for the lack of opportunities I got as a player to make it big as I'm now producing players myself. I work with a famous coach [Rodriguez] and I learn from him everyday, which I transmit to my players,” he said.
Initially hired as a hitting partner after his three-month training period, Akhter had to rise through the ranks to come this far in his career. He puts it to the 'discipline learnt at the BKSP' for getting the job in the first place and being successful in this career. Now the 31-year-old prepares tour plans for youngsters and takes them to some of the top tennis events at junior level, including the Orange Bowl tournament in Miami which has seen the emergence of some of the all-time great tennis players over the years.
The professional instructor is happy not just about his own work, but the fact that there are at least 15 to 20 tennis coaches from Bangladesh working in different academies all over China gives him immense satisfaction. While things are yet not too promising for youngsters taking up the game in Bangladesh, people like Akhter are doing their best to make a name in the game beyond boundaries.
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