Currency crisis might hit players
Currency crisis might hit players
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP): Indonesian tennis star Yayuk Basuki fears the Southeast Asian currency crisis might halt advances made by players from the region.
Yayuk joined Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn in the fourth round of the Australian Open yesterday with a 6-4, 6-4 win over number 14 seed Dominique van Roost of Belgium.
Currencies in both nations have received a battering and Indonesia's rupiah had a stunning 30 percent fall against the United States dollar last week.
Tennis can bring players enormous riches - Basuki has made more than US$1.3 million in prize money - but it also drains the resources of those starting out. Newcomers need sponsors to pay for the constant travel.
Yayuk, who has a ranking of 24, feels she is cushioned against the economic woes of her homeland, but believes it will affect others coming through.
"Right now, it doesn't bother me because I'm traveling around and my ranking is already up there," Yayuk, 27, said. "But I know it's going to affect things a lot for somebody who is still ranked at 300 or 400 because for them its a case of still trying to get more sponsors to pay their loans."
There are 10 Indonesian women on the rankings with Liza Andriyani the next highest at 380.
Yayuk, who will make her first fourth round Grand Slam appearance outside Wimbledon, where she achieved the stage from 1992 to 1995, said she loved watching Asian players succeed in top class tennis.
But she believes it is tougher for Asians, except Japanese, to overcome the limitations of their birthplace.
"I came through when I was 20, which may have been a little late and I'm still trying to make it up," Yayuk said.
"It's not easy for players from East Asia to get a sponsor, to get the market the same as in the United States or Europe." Yayuk said the Japanese were an exception.
"They are starting earlier and I think the market for a tennis professional player is very good in Japan. That is not the same in East Asia at the moment."