Prima vows to bounce back from defeat

Prima vows to bounce back from defeat

Musthofid, The Jakarta Post,Jakarta

After a mistimed forehand soared over the baseline to give
Uzbekistan a 3-2 win in last Sunday's Davis Cup tie, Prima
Simpatiaji slumped in his chair at courtside, a towel wrapped
around his head.

With everything riding on the fifth and decisive singles, his
disappointment was clear. But, unlike when he was a schoolboy
losing in his first tournament, there were no tears of
frustration for the 24 year old this time.

The lanky 1.8 meter all court player had been the local hero
on the opening day of the Asia-Oceania first round playoff,
winning his first singles match in commanding fashion against
Farrukh Dustov.

He also fought hard in the final match, forcing Denis Istomin
to two tiebreaks and holding set points in the second set before
the match slipped away from him.

A win would have given Indonesia its first victory over the
Uzbeks after losing achingly close encounters in 2001 and 2003 by
identical 2-3 scorelines.

It could have been a case of wanting to win too much, and his
topspin forehand -- instrumental in his win against Dustov -- let
him down on Sunday.

Prima rues the missed opportunity of the Istomin match.

"I'm still saddened by the defeat. It was a good opportunity
to win on home turf ... but I failed to win the match that would
have taken us through," Prima said on Tuesday by phone.

He added that he was trying to put the loss behind him by
doing some window shopping in local malls.

"I won't let sadness overwhelm me. I learned a lot from the
defeat. I have to improve my weak areas and try to sharpen what
have been my reliable weapons."

His game's strengths of a powerful serve and the looping
forehand, along with unwavering parental support and his own
commitment, have made him one of the country's best male players.

Prima began playing tennis in the second grade under the
tutelage of his father Purnomo, a civil servant, in his hometown
of Tegal, Central Java.

He remembers his first loss, and the tears that came with it.

He was sent to a tennis camp in Bekasi where he trained for
two years, eventually joining Detec tennis club owned by Deddy
Prasetyo, a player-cum-coach known for often being at odds with
the Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti), in 1997.

After a year's layoff due to injury, he entered Diponegoro
University in Semarang in 2000, hitting the books as a student
for a year and a half.

Prima then decided to give tennis another shot, rejoining
Deddy's club.

He was selected as a reserve for the Davis Cup team in 2003
when it lost to Uzbekistan in Tashkent. He was called up to play
in subsequent ties against South Korea and Japan, failing to win
his matches, but displayed growing maturity when Indonesia routed
New Zealand 5-0 last year to set up last week's showdown with
Uzbekistan.

Still, Prima had second thoughts about his tennis career after
winning a silver medal for Central Java at the 2004 National
Games.

"I was weary of playing tennis. I had decided to return to
campus. But my parents opposed my plan," he said.

"'You have good prospects in tennis. Why on earth would you
leave it when you are already immersed in it?'" Prima recalled
his father admonishing him.

Instead, he left Deddy's camp at the end of 2004 to join the
school of Pelti chief Martina Wijaya, who has sometimes been at
odds with Deddy.

"I find it a good training ground because we have sparring
matches with other strong players," Prima said of his new club.

"Om Deddy is basically a good kind of man. Well, people know
that he is quite blunt about Pelti."

His results this year have been promising. Despite losing in
the early rounds of an international satellite tournament in
Jakarta early this year, he came back to win the singles at the
Cigna Open in February.

With a newfound commitment to the game, Prima promises to give
his all, even though he is not young in tennis terms (in
comparison, Andy Roddick is 22, Roger Federer 23 and Asian number
one Paradorn Srichaphan 25, but the latter had already made his
mark on the international circuit by his early 20s).

"Tennis is my family's life. I can't leave it. When I don't
play any more, I hope I can still train."

He no longer cries about what might have been, but seeks
instead to learn his lesson for the next time he steps onto
court.

"Hopefully, I can pass the test in another round of the Davis
Cup," he said.