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."