Liza puts school before turning professional

JAKARTA (JP): Liza Andriyani never dreamed of being a national heroine when she walked on to tennis court yesterday against Tamarine Tanusagarn, the world's 37 ranked player.

Later the same afternoon, the 18-year-old still could not believe she had rallied to upset the Thai to ensure Indonesia's gold in the women's team event.

She covered her face with her towel when unable to contain her excitement during the post-match press conference.

The talented baseliner with the whopping forehand was better known for her good looks before joining the national squad in June this year.

Currently ranked 359 in singles and 187 in doubles in the WTA rankings, she was a member of the losing team which failed to wrest a match against Italy in the Fed Cup.

But she had signaled her coming of age by taking Wang Shi Ting of Chinese Taipei to three sets in this year's Danamon Indonesia Women's Open.

Identifying her idol as Steffi Graf, Liza said she would finish high school before turning pro.

"I had to finish my study first because I think that school is also important for athletes," she said, adding that she skipped the satellite and challenger tournaments for three months.

Liza first picked up a racket at the age of seven and won the national age group championship three years later. She has been a member of the Pelita Jaya Club since the age of 12. She was trained by Poedjo Prajitno in her hometown of Tegal, Central Java, before moving to Jakarta.

For the past four years, she has trained at the Van der Meer tennis camp in South Carolina since, and she credits this for her improvement.

"I think my forehands are very strong and I really love to hit inside-out forehands," she said.

She is from a tennis-loving family that includes father Sultoni, mother Sri Winarni and older brother Sulistyo Wibowo, himself a member of the men's squad.

The siblings are paired in the mixed doubles in the Games.

"It's nice to play with my own brother," she said. "We understand each other better and we can speak in the Tegal dialect if we come up against other Indonesians."

After the Games, she will return to the U.S. for final exams.

"Please, wish me luck to pass the exam," she said.

Does she look forward to fiercely competitive and sometimes lonely life on the tennis circuit, including traveling thousands of miles from home?

"That's the risk we take," Liza said pragmatically. "Sometimes we can enjoy it, but there will be times when we will be bored by the pressure." (yan)