Minister Sarwono urges Yayuk to make up her mind

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesia Tennis Association's chairman Sarwono Kusumaatmadja urged the country's top female player Yayuk Basuki to decide whether she will join the SEA Games squad or play in WTA tournaments.

"It's Yayuk that must decide what's the best for her. It doesn't depend on us, the association's officials," he said.

The National Sports Council expects Yayuk to join the Games squad but Yayuk aims to reach the WTA top 20 this year.

"Whatever Yayuk decides, we can only support her decision," said Sarwono, who is also the State Minister of Environment.

The association would provide US$10,000 in cash to support Yayuk's ambition.

Sarwono said the association has registered nine female players and eight male players, all are members of the national tennis team, for the SEA Games.

Only four female and four male players are picked for the Games' main squad.

"The person who faces the risk and receives the honor is the player herself. She has to decide, it's up to her," Sarwono said.

"We have thought about hiring a top coach for Yayuk who can boost her ranking to top 20," he added.

Sarwono said 1996 was Yayuk's year. Yayuk reached the French Open's third round in May, but lost to former No.1 Steffi Graf of Germany at Wimbledon's opening match in June. She also reached the Canada Open's semifinals in August but failed in the second round of the Acura Tennis Classics a week later. The 26-year-old player only reached the first round of the US Open in August but cruised to the Advanta Championship semifinals in November.

Sarwono said as soon as Yayuk sent her decision letter, the association would report it to the council.

"If until our deadline Yayuk does not send any letters, we won't register her for the Games," he said, without mentioning the deadline.

Meanwhile, young hope Wynne Prakusya, who won the Indonesia Astra International Junior Championship in the girls event Sunday lost to Bianca Kamper of Austria 6-2, 2-6, 3-6 in the first round of the satellite tournament in Bandung.

Sarwono said, "Wynne has yet to prove she is a wonder girl. If she is a wonder girl, we'll treat her in a wonder way. We can't compare Wynne with Martina Hingis."

Hingis, 16, of Switzerland became the world's No.1 tennis player this week, replacing Steffi Graf.

"Wynne must feel both success and failure. She has to learn to accept failure from the beginning. Because if it's too late, she can't accept the reality," he said.

"Being a successful person is really hard. Wynne must know that," he added. (yan)