Dea gets a shot in the arm in U.S. collegiate career

Bruce Emond The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

National tennis' loss was the University of Washington's gain when Dea Sumantri accepted a full scholarship to its tennis program three years ago.

Currently the 18th ranked women's singles player in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the Bandung-born player has been ranked as high as fifth and was twice an All- American in singles.

Along with head coach Patty Fendick McCain, she is credited with helping make Washington's Huskies one of the leading teams in women's collegiate tennis.

First contacted by McCain in 2000 when she was a top junior player competing with Angelique "Angie" Widjaja, Dea passed on the offer.

"Angie and Dea were the two most promising juniors, and I think Angie improved because of the competition," said former top 20 player Yayuk Basuki, whose husband Suharyadi coached Dea and recommended her to McCain, a friend from the women's tour.

"If Angie was a bit more talented (physically), Dea was smart at playing the game."

McCain tried her luck again two years later.

This time, tired of the grind of early morning practice sessions, long distance travel on the satellite tournament circuit and laid low by injury, Dea was ready to try something different.

"I didn't really like that type of life (as a touring pro), it's not easy at all, traveling by yourself or even with a coach," Dea said by phone from Seattle last Thursday. "That's especially so when the teenage phase, puberty, is tough."

Like Angie, also from Bandung and a frequent doubles partner in her junior days, Dea was the youngest in her family, with three older brothers. Her parents were initially reticent to let her go to the U.S.

"My dad asked me if it was worth it to give it all up to go to the States, and I said, 'how would I know if I don't try?' My parents have been very supportive."

The move to the Seattle campus -- what she calls her "one-stop for happiness" -- provided a personal awakening for Dea.

"It was the best thing that ever happened to me," said Dea, now a 22-year-old senior business major in marketing and sales with a 3.5 GPA.

After her lonely teen years when tennis was her all-consuming focus, she has thrived on the Seattle campus -- she calls it her "one-stop for happiness -- from the enjoyment of competing on a team to making friends.

As her results attest, striking the right balance has also been good for her game.

"I've become more developed in my personality and character. I've started to realize that I play so much better when I feel motivated from the inside."

McCain, herself a successful player for Stanford in the 1980s, has also been an inspiration. Dea speaks in superlatives about her coach.

"She does a terrific job in molding someone into a better tennis player, helping them imagine that they can go that far. She's so amazing, intelligent, a really smart woman."

McCain, known for believing that the game of tennis can be broken down into a geometric equation, is equally liberal in her praise for her player.

"Dea has helped raise this program to a completely new level," she told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in April.

"The standard she has set with her work ethic and her passion for the game ... not only is she an exciting player to watch because she's a shot maker, but she just brings droves of people out because she makes everyone feel part of the experience.

"She makes them feel like they're going through it shot for shot with her. She plays with humility and is thankful for them."

Dea, who will graduate in December, will say goodbye to collegiate tennis in June when her eligibility ends.

She said she missed Indonesia -- "my family, friends, the food, and it's so cheap" -- but will remain in the U.S. after graduating to work.

Studying in the U.S. has also opened her eyes to inequality.

"In the U.S., it's mostly racial, but in Indonesia it's that dangerous mind, patriarchal way of thinking."

Differences in prize money between the sexes is galling to her.

"We eat the same amount of food, we spend the same amount of days on the court to the reach the final, but the money is different."

Despite her successful college career, Dea doubts she will follow the path of Lisa Raymond, Laura Granville or Fendick McCain in trying out the pro tour once again.

"I am ready to take the next step in life, try a new challenge but I don't see myself playing the pro tour," she said.

"If you don't have to wake up at 5 a.m. every morning, if you can find happiness in so many other forms, then why would you?"