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Home > Sports News > Other Sports News > Article > Uzbekistans Fayziev loves tennis from the bottom of his ailing heart

Uzbekistan's Fayziev loves tennis from the bottom of his ailing heart

Updated on: 09 April,2017 12:05 PM IST  | 
G Unnikrishnan |

Sanjar Fayziev is just 22 years old, but the Uzbek has already gone through the kind of turmoil that makes a lot different from many athletes in his age bracket

Uzbekistan's Fayziev loves tennis from the bottom of his ailing heart

Sanjar Fayziev

Uzbekistan’s Sanjar Fayziev Uzbekistan’s Sanjar Fayziev


Bangalore: Sanjar Fayziev is just 22 years old, but the Uzbek has already gone through the kind of turmoil that makes a lot different from many athletes in his age bracket. Fayziev has been diagnosed with arrhythmia— a medical condition that causes irregular heartbeats. That Fayziev's choice of a tennis, which is highly physical, has only increased the risk factor in his life.


"It came to light in 2016 and I had to keep myself away from tennis for two months. Fortunately, it's a minor condition, but I still need to keep that in mind while I am on court," Fayziev told mid-day on the sidelines of the ongoing Davis Cup tie with India at the KSLTA Stadium here on Friday.


A glimpse of the dangers the condition could pose was on view here when, after winning the second set 6-3 and leading 3-1 in the third set the Uzbek took a mini break after the fourth game that ended up destroying his rhythm as he lost the next five games on the trot. Fayziev took a medical time out after the set, but never regained his touch thereafter and went down rather tamely to Prajnesh Gunneswaran 5-7, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6 in the second singles rubber. "I was unable to breath properly for a few minutes during that period. This has had happened two or three times in my career," he said.

The medical condition has seen his ATP ranking plummet to 684 before he made a comeback of sorts to his present 376. So, how did he muster the courage to make a return?

"It was tough at first. I know about this medical condition and I was a bit apprehensive about what could happen on court, if I resumed playing. It was mentally taxing. But once I started to do well on the Futures tours, my confidence grew gradually," the wafer-thin 6-foot-2 blond said. Fayziev, who began his sporting career as a swimmer and switched to tennis at the age of seven, said he will take more care in future to ensure he can prolong his tennis career. "I love playing tennis. Once I realised that, I stuck to it. Now I'm leading my country's Davis Cup team in the absence of Denis Istomin. Once I return to Tashkent, I will take all possible measures to keep this condition under control and extend my career," he signed off.

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