Angelique Widjaja wants to enter the world top 20

Angelique Widjaja wants to enter the world top 20

JAKARTA (JP): Living a secluded life does not prevent women's
tennis player Angelique Widjaja from shining. Angelique, who will
turn 17 on Dec. 12, just concluded her campaign in the Australian
Open junior championships last week.

In the singles event, Angie (her nickname) bowed out in the
third round to Slovakian Lenka Dlhopolcova 3-6, 1-6. She passed
through the second round by ousting Hungarian player Boglarka
Berecz and Russian Ivanov in the first round.

However, she fared better in the doubles with her partner Dea
Sumantri. The team, seeded two in this event, managed to cruise
to the quarterfinals before losing to non-seeded partners Anna
Bastrikova and Svetlana Kuznetsova from Russia 4-6, 5-7.

Angie's best achievement in the doubles was reaching the 2000
US Open junior semifinals, when she teamed up with Kumiko Iijima
of Japan.

She is easily noticeable on court with her towering posture,
which measures 173 centimeters high, and her overflowing smile.
She is dubbed as one of the country's brightest prospective
players after Wynne Prakusya and veteran Yayuk Basuki.

"I have dreamt of being a world tennis player ever since an
early age. I want to enter the world's top 20, hopefully I can
accomplish it in my 20s. I have spent my childhood on tennis
courts, so I won't stop until I fulfill my target," she said on
Tuesday.

She started playing tennis when she was four. Father Rico
Widjaja and mother Amanda Salim registered her in the FIKS tennis
school in her hometown Bandung.

"I used to follow my five brothers when they practiced tennis.
They liked to tease me, asking me to pick up balls," said the
youngest of six siblings.

She said she admired top women's player Martina Hingis of
Switzerland and Lindsay Davenport of the United States.

"But I haven't got their autographs although I saw their
performances at the Australian Open because the senior and junior
events take place some distance away from each other."

Her loving parents can always be spotted on court, watching
her performances and encouraging her when she is down.

"As of today, we still manage to fund Angie's overseas trip.
We receive little financial support from others, including the
Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti). She wants to be a tennis
player, and we don't want to stop her from fulfilling her dream.
She's got enough talent, and she is consistent," said Amanda.

When Angie ends her daily exercises, she prefers spending her
spare time in her room, listening to the radio or chatting on the
internet.

"I'm too exhausted to hang out with my friends," she said,
adding that her daily activities involve studying at the Taruna
Bakti high school from 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and practicing tennis
from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. (ivy)