Israel's Amir Hadad and Pakistan's Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi scooped a humanitarian award for their on-court tennis partnership on Thursday.

The pair were chosen by the organisers of men's tennis for the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award.

"During a summer when fear and hatred garnered much of the headlines, Amir and Aisam-ul-Haq provided much needed relief with their simple message about tolerance through tennis," ATP chief Mark Miles said.

"It's fitting that we present the Arthur Ashe Award to these two players on the 10th anniversary of Arthur's death, as Arthur remains the model for all of us on how athletes and sport can make a big difference in the lives of others."

At Wimbledon last year, Hadad and Qureshi initially thought little of their decision to team up for the first time to play doubles.

But set against the backdrop of Jewish-Islamic tensions in the Middle East and the global war on terrorism, Hadad and Qureshi's partnership -- they reached the third round at Wimbledon and also played at the U.S. Open -- proved inspirational.

Although he never intended to make a political statement with the choice of his doubles partner, Hadad said that they had delivered a positive message.

ELIMINATE RACISM

"I have had quite a lot people come up to me at the airport or on the airplane and ask me when I was going to play with the Pakistani player again," he said.

"I never heard anybody say, 'Don't play with him', or something like that. In Israel everybody is pretty supportive about it."

Qureshi said: "I was lucky to have my parents with me at Wimbledon and at the U.S. Open when I played with Amir.

"They also helped me and gave me confidence that I was doing the right thing. It's good for the game.

"They were telling me to keep it up. All my family and everybody back home were proud of me."

Arthur Ashe, one of tennis' greatest ambassadors, died 10 years ago on February 6, 1993.

The first African-American man to win the U.S. Open in 1968, Ashe captured 33 titles in his career, including Wimbledon in 1975.

Off the court, Ashe worked tirelessly to eliminate racism and poverty around the world, particularly in segregated South Africa.

Other ATP players selected for 2002 awards were rising Thai star Paradorn Srichaphan, who won both the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award and Most Improved Player Award, and Newcomer of the Year Paul-Henri Mathieu of France.