As we await the start of #Wimbledon next week, we look back at the first Indian to reach the Singles quarter final at this iconic event - Ghaus Mohammad Khan (1/11) 
In 1938, Don Budge went to a place where no other tennis player had gone before him. He captured the Singles title at Australian, French, Wimbledon & US Championships - becoming the first to achieve the “Grand Slam” (2/11)
Only 3 men could take a set off Budge in a Grand Slam event that year. The first of them hailed from Malihabad in British India - India's no. 1 tennis player Ghaus Mohammad Khan (3/11)
Born in 1915, the early sporting love of Ghaus Mohammad was football. His father, a landlord of Malihabad, wanted his 3 sons to receive proper education and the boys were sent to Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) for the same (4/11)
On a visit back home, Ghaus Mohammad witnessed his father playing a game of tennis. He joined his father for a round and fell in love with it (5/11)
From that moment on, tennis became the centre of young Ghaus' life. Fortunately, he found a great mentor in prof. Haidar Khan of AMU who became his biggest supporter (6/11)
By 1936, Ghaus was acknowledged as the no. 1 tennis player in India, replacing Sohanlal. In 1938, he traveled to Paris to take part in the French tennis championship where his path crossed with Don Budge (7/11)
In a round 3 encounter, after losing the first two sets, Ghaus became the 1st player that year to take a set off Budge when he won the 3rd set 7-5. Although he got blanked in the 4th set, Ghaus had grabbed the attention of the tennis world (8/11)
A greater achievement came little over a year later when Ghaus Mohammad made it to the last eight at Wimbledon - the first Indian to achieve this honor. Unfortunately, he was defeated by Bobby Riggs who went on to win the title (9/11)
In a few months, the world was plunged into a great war that would bring major sports events to a halt for more than 6 years. Like many other sportsmen of that era, Ghaus Mohammad also lost the best years of his career due to the war (10/11)
Ghaus Mohammad had one last tryst with Wimbledon in 1947. Now past his prime, he lost in round 2 in singles and round 3 in doubles. The Indian government honored Ghaus Mohammad with the Padma Shri award in 1971 (11/11)
Source: awazthevoice.in/sports-news/gh…
Getty Images, Wikimedia Commons, Heritage Prints
Getty Images, Wikimedia Commons, Heritage Prints
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