Tintus counts himself out as Davis Cup coach

JAKARTA (JP): National tennis coach Tintus Ariwibowo said on Tuesday he did not want to be named to coach Indonesia's Davis Cup team next year.

Tintus cited his age, time commitments and family.

"I'm too old to follow Davis Cup team members to compete in tournaments. Besides, it's difficult for me to leave my family for a long time," he said.

Tintus' wife Suzana Anggarkusuma is accompanying national women's singles player Wynne Prakusya on satellite tournaments in the Philippines and India.

"I think it's better for younger coaches to follow the team for tournaments because they don't have to think of family matter. Besides, it will be good to prepare them to replace older coaches," he said during training at the Jakarta Hilton International Hotel.

"It's difficult to divide my time as I have to coach in Ragunan on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from early morning."

"I personally don't want to leave my family for a long time because my son is 11 years old and as a parent I'm a bit worried to see his growing up amid today's bad influences."

Indonesia's team of Dede Suhendar Dinata, Sebastian Da Costa, Suwandi, Febi Widhiyanto, Hendri Susilo Pramono and Edy Kusdaryanto is scheduled to compete in several tournaments in India before its Davis Cup tie against the Philippines at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Complex in Manila on Feb. 4 to Feb. 6.

They are now training with coach Dedy Prasetyo.

Tintus said his presence at the training was only to observe his player Suwandi.

"If they are training in Ragunan, I will personally train them. But they are training here with Dedy," he said.

Tintus and Suzana are training Suwandi and Wynne at Martina Widjaja's house in Ragunan, South Jakarta. Martina is an official of the Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti).

Despite his reservations, Tintus said he would agree to coach the team if it was at Martina's urging.

"She's my boss. If she told me to coach the team, I'll do it."

On Monday, Dede and Sebastian said they preferred Dedy as the coach because of his good training methods and he was approachable.

Indonesia leads 5-1 in Davis Cup ties with the Philippines. Its only loss was the Davis Cup match in April at the Senayan Tennis Indoor Stadium, but the team avenged the defeat at the 19th Southeast Asian Games in Brunei Darussalam in August. (yan)