Febi, Hendri start well in Future tournament

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's young tennis hopes, Febi Widhiyanto and Hendri Susilo Pramono, got their overseas experience off to a good start by reaching the men's doubles semifinal in the US$15,000 Future tournament in Schwabisch Hall in Germany.

"We are very happy about this achievement since the level of these tournaments is higher here compared to Indonesia or Asia," said Febi in a press release on Monday. However, they failed to reach the final.

Febi and Hendri also tumbled out of the singles qualifying competition, bowing out to German players in the second round.

Both players are sponsored by PT Asuransi Allianz Life Indonesia with life insurance policies worth $25,000 each. The sponsorship is an extension from last year's program.

Febi and Hendri have trained hard and given their best in the competition, however, they have yet to adjust to the surface of the tennis courts.

Both players said that their European rivals were accustomed to playing on clay courts, but their own experience is almost completely limited to the hard court.

"Our opponents are mostly from eastern and western Europe, and they are real specialists on clay," Hendri said, adding that it was not easy to adapt from hard courts to clay courts in a short period.

Febi, whose current ATP world ranking is 759, added that their game on clay was improving after competing in the tournament and training at every opportunity.

But to enter the main draw of any ITF tournament in Germany, a player must have an ATP world ranking minimum of 344.

"Due to our current ranking we must go through a tough qualifying and can only enter the main draw if we play with absolutely no mistakes," Febi explained.

The players will start their second $15,000 Future Tournament in Mannhein, which is near their training base in Schwetzingen.

They went to Germany last month to compete in the second division of the German Tennis Bundesliga for BW Schwetzingen tennis club. They are coached by Peter Treutlein.

Treutlein and the Indonesian coach, Deddy Prasetyo, said that they were satisfied with the players' performances.

Febi and Hendri will play in four more club games for Schwetzingen before returning to Indonesia on June 14, just in time to compete in the 15th National Games (PON) in Surabaya from June 19 to June 30. (ivy)