Philippine Tennis at the SEA Games

This year, the South East Asian Games is being hosted by the Philippines. I think this may have prompted Eric Taino and Cecil Mamiit, two ranked pro players in the ATP, to begin playing with (PHI) appended to their names. It sure isn't because of the financial incentives.

From the Manila Standard:
"I've always wanted to come back, and that would have been sometime later down the road. My parents are Filipino and I was in a culture of being around Filipinos," said the 29-year-old Mamiit, who was hardly bothered by the midmorning heat.

With members of the Indonesian team doing their thing nearby and their assistant chef de missions watching from the bleachers, Mamiit added that playing for the Philippines was something he had always wanted to do since his family migrated in the United States in 1982.

His father Cesar is from Alaminos, Laguna, while his mom, Feliza, hails from Sariaya, Quezon.

Mamiit, whose current ranking is now no. 211 in the world, is no longer bracing for a showdown with Southeast Asia's no. 1 netter Paradorn Srichapan [sic] of Thailand in the men's singles. Srichapan [sic], who is ranked no. 42 in the latest International Tennis Federation classification, is skipping the Manila meet in favor of a richer Association of Tennis Professional-sanctioned competition elsewhere.

Instead, Mamiit is preparing against the possibility of meeting the 129th-ranked Thai Danai Udomchoke, who is Southeast Asia's second-highest ranked tennis professional.

Udomchoke is coming to the country before tennis action begins on Nov. 30 and is reeling from a string of losses from seven money tournaments.

[...]

Mamiit, on the other hand, recently reached the semifinals of the Champaigne-Urbana Challenger with Korean Hyung Taik Lee.

His regular partner Eric Taino was expected to join Mamiit in practice after arriving from Hong Kong last night.

Mamiit said opportunities which enabled him to reach a career-high ranking of no. 35 two years ago are no longer around.

The United States Tennis Association are now keen on supporting younger and promising netters in the professional circuit, like Andy Roddick and James Blake.

"At my age, they probably think that I'm getting old. They have a lot of younger guys like Andy Roddick and James Blake that I have to compete with. And it's hard to satisfy everbody," Mamiit went on.

Mamiit explained that for the last four years, the USTA had been supporting him by allowing him to gain wild card slots for Grand Slams and Tour events.

With that support came allowances and coaches like Paul Goldstein.

The only thing the Philippine Tennis Association promised Mamiit when they asked him to play were a lot of incentives if he and Taino wins a gold.

"No money was involved here," explained Mamiit.

More from the Philippine Daily Inquirer, which reports that Mamiit is guaranteeing at least one gold medal for the Philippines at these Games.

posted by Noelle De Guzman @ 2:50 PM