Thailand has new budding champion
Thai junior tennis player Noppawan Lertcheewakarn failed to win the final of the girls' singles at Wimbledon in England late last night. Noppawan, 16, lost to Briton Laura Robson, 14, 3-6, 6-3, 1-6. It was a fine showing for the Chiang Mai girl who is known as ''Nok''. In the first set Robson needed just one break of serve to take the set. Despite having a much slower serve, Noppawan held serve throughout the second set, breaking Robson at 2-all and again at 5-2 to send the match into a final deciding set.
Using her big serve and forehand and with the partisan crowd behind her, Robson blitzed the Thai in the final set for a well-deserved victory.
''Tammy [Tanasugarn] gave me some tactics playing on grass. I really want to win a trophy and be in the Champions' Ball with Federer,'' Noppawan had reportedly said before the match.
Wimbledon marks a stellar rise for the young Thai who won her first senior event, on the Challenger's Tour in Indonesia, in May. She is currently the top ranked junior girl with the Asian Tennis Federation and 4th ranked in the world.
From starting to play tennis as a five-year-old, her first big opportunity came when she was discovered by Ric Fowler, an American living in Chiang Mai.
Mr Fowler created a non-profit foundation (www.ricofoundation.org) that among other objectives was to provide long-term funding for a youth tennis programme.
He spotted her playing tennis on the hospital courts where her mother worked as a nurse and after observing her rapid progress, he contacted a coach from Germany and the foundation began sponsoring Noppawan to train seriously and travel abroad. She is now sponsored by the Petroleum Authority of Thailand and is coached by Rung-rit Takong.
Prev
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Next
