Zainab Ali Naqvi was considered a rising star in Pakistani tennis.
The ITF junior tournament in Pakistan has been marred by tragic news. One of the participants died a few hours before the match. The news sent shockwaves through the Asian tennis community.
No one could have imagined that the girl would die so early.
Cause of death: heart attack
The tragedy occurred on February 12 in Islamabad. 17-year-old Pakistani tennis player Zainab Ali Naqvi was preparing for her first round match at the J30 tournament. Her opponent was Nam Gyu Ri from South Korea.
According to the Pakistani portal Tribune, Zainab trained and went to her maternal grandmother, with whom she stayed during the tournament. In the evening, the girl was taking a shower when she lost consciousness. The athlete’s family tried to reach her and eventually broke down the door to the bathroom, discovering the fallen girl. Her grandmother immediately called the doctors.
The tennis player was taken to the hospital, but the doctors’ efforts were in vain. Ali Naqvi died without regaining consciousness. According to preliminary data, the cause of death was a heart attack.
All matches have been postponed
Pakistani tennis fans could not believe the departure of the 17-year-old junior. The National Federation published an obituary in which it expressed deep condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.
“It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of Zainab Ali Naqvi, a young tennis player who came to Islamabad from Karachi to participate in the ITF Juniors Tournaments. All scheduled matches were postponed by a day as a mark of respect for the deceased. Foreign and Pakistani players, parents, coaches and officials observed a minute’s silence in memory of Zainab, the Pakistan Tennis Federation (PTF) said in a statement posted on social media.
The court and the tournament will be named after Zainab
Zainab Ali Naqvi was considered a rising star in Pakistani tennis. The Karachi native was among the top eight juniors in the country. During her short life, the girl took part in four ITF tournaments in Islamabad and Istanbul, but did not win a single victory.
Ali Naqvi started playing tennis at the age of six, following the example of her father Imam. In parallel with sports, she studied music and loved to play the piano, preferring the works of Einaudi and Beethoven. In tennis, she liked Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova, and recently Zainab has been keeping a close eye on Aryna Sabalenka. The girl was brought up in a complete family, and she had a younger brother.
Al Naqvi was remembered by others as a promising tennis player with a positive outlook on life.
— Zainab always smiled and was polite to everyone. Everyone who knew her was delighted with her positivity. I saw her in Islamabad a few days ago and we had a very pleasant conversation. The news of her death is, of course, shocking,” PTF vice-president Muhammad Khalid Rehmani told the Tribune portal.
A little later, the new president of the PTF, the famous former Pakistani tennis player Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, who was elected to his post literally the day before the tragedy, addressed the public. He said that the court on which Ali Naqvi was supposed to play would be named after her. In addition, the ITF J30 tournament in Islamabad, which starts on February 19, will be renamed in memory of the junior.
I am a sports journalist who has written for a number of Sportish. I have a background in journalism and have been writing since I was young. My main focus is sports news, but I also write about general news. I am currently working as an author at Sportish.
Austrian tennis player Sebastian Ofner (ATP 131) suffered a disappointing defeat in the second round of the 2026 Australian Open qualifiers.
In the semi-finals of the selection, the Austrian player lost to the US representative in three sets Nisheshu Basavareddy (ATP 239) in 2 hours 32 minutes. Basavareddy took the victory over Ofner in the third set super tiebreaker.
Sebastian was ahead 7:1 in the super tiebreaker and started celebrating his victory after gaining a point. Sebastian started walking towards the goal and the referee told him the match wasn’t over yet.
As a result, Ofner lost 11:13 and missed two match points: one at 10:9 on the return, the other at 11:10 on serve.
Basavareddy will compete against George Loffagen (Great Britain, ATP 211) in the Australian Open qualifying final.
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
On January 14, all second round matches in tough tournaments ended WTA 500 in Adelaide And WTA 250 in HobartIt will take place parallel to the Australian Open 2026 qualifying match (Melbourne).
In Adelaide, Dayana Yastremskaya’s felon Katerina Sinyakova lost to Diana Schneider in the second round.
The best moments of tennis matches LIVE on Telegram channel Tennis on Sport.ua
Second-seeded five-hundred Madison Keys knocked out Tereza Valentova, and eighth-seeded Victoria Mboko fought Anna Kalinskaya.
Victoria Mboko [8] – 🏳️ Anna Kalinskaya – 6:2, 3:6, 7:6 (8:6) Teresa Valentova – Madison Keys [2] – 4:6, 1:6
WTA 500 Adelaide. Quarter final matches
topnet
🏳️Mirra Andreeva [3] – Ayla Tomljanovic [WC]
🏳️Diana Schneider [9] – Emma Navarro [6]
bottom of the network
Kimberly Birrell- Jacqueline Christian [Q] Victoria Mboko [8] – Madison Keys [2]
Video review of match day in Adelaide
In Hobart, top seed Emma Raducanu advanced to the quarter-finals without a fight – Magdalena French withdrew from her second round match.
Olga Danilovich, who defeated McCartney Kessler and advanced to the second place, also defeated Peyton Stearns in the 1/8 final.
Third-seeded Iva Jovic crushes her opponents: The young American first gave up just one game to Janice Tjen and then defeated Renata Sarasua with scores of 6:1, 6:2. Her next opponent will be Magda Linette.
WTA 250 Hobart. 1/8 final
topnet
Emma Raducanu [1] – Magdalena French – WO., Raducanu Rebecca Shramkova – Talia Preston [WC] – 4:6, 1:6
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
(Adelaide) Leylah Annie Fernandez and her Hungarian playing partner Timea Babos fell 7-6 (3), 6-7 (6) and 6-10 to the Czech Katerina Siniakova and the Chinese Zhang Shuai in the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Adelaide tennis tournament on Wednesday.
Fernandez and Babos bowed after a tight duel lasting one hour and 59 minutes in front of the second seeds of the doubles tournament.
Siniakova and Zhang will face Kazakh Anna Danilina and Serbian Aleksandra Krunic, fourth seeds in the doubles, in the final four.
The Quebecoise, 22e world racket, lost to Russian Diana Shnaider 7-5, 6-3 in singles on Monday.
Furthermore, Ontario’s Victoria Mboko, eighth seed, will meet in the quarter-finals of the women’s singles with American Madison Keys, second seed, at the end of the evening.
Mboko is playing her first official WTA singles tournament in 2026, and her first since Hong Kong, which she won, in November 2025.
I am a sports journalist who has worked in print and online. I have authored articles for a sports website and have covered sports news for over 6 years.
Maria Bouzkova [LL] – 6:3, 6:1
