Minister Sarwono urges Yayuk to make up her mind
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)