Young guns provide bright outlook for PH tennis
The future looks bright for Philippine tennis with several young, promising players making up the national pool, giving non-playing captain Roland Kraut a happy problem of having so much talent from which to choose his Davis Cup team.
The Philippines advanced to the finals of Davis Cup Group II after blanking Pakistan, 5-0, earlier today at the Philippine Columbian Association courts featuring a team with an average age of 25.
"It looks good," Kraut said. "Before we were used to seeing just two players. Now it's four. The problem now is who to pick. But that's a good problem."
At a young 31, Johnny Arcilla is already the elder statesman of this team that swept Pakistan without conceding a single set. The three others are Fil-Americans Treat Huey and Ruben Gonzales, both a spry 25, and Francis Casey "Nino" Alcantara, who at 20 is still a college student and is just three years removed from winning the Australian Open boys doubles title.
And that's not even counting 19-year-old Jeson Patrombon, the former world junior standout who has been steadily climbing up the world singles rankings, plus a couple of other up-and-coming players. Patrombon sat out the tie against Pakistan with an ankle injury, but he was on hand at the PCA courts to get some practice time in and watch the matches.
"They're young," Kraut said. "Jeson, 19. Nino, 20. [Huey and Gonzales], 25. So everything looks good for us. And we're in Group II, a chance to shine in preparation for Group I."
There's also 21-year-old Marc Reyes, Patrombon's doubles partner abroad who was also at the PCA today, and 16-year-old Jurence Mendoza, who reached the semifinals of the recent 23rd Mitsubishi Lancer ITF juniors tournament. "It's a good problem," Kraut said. "Everybody's on their toes. I'm sure PHILTA is going to talk to all of the players."
In previous Davis Cup ties, the Philippines relied heavily on veteran Cecil Mamiit, who led the country back to Group I in 2010. After being relegated back to Group II last year following successive Group I losses to Japan, New Zealand and Chinese Taipei, the team found itself at a crossroads this year after the 35-year-old Mamiit announced he would no longer be playing. He was named non-playing captain in last February's 5-0 demolition of Pacific-Oceania, but the veteran begged off from reprising his role against Pakistan.
But if the final result versus the Pakistanis is any indication, then Philippine tennis is in good hands. Arcilla and Huey won their singles matches last Thursday, while Huey and Gonzales teamed up to cop the double match yesterday. Earlier today Arcilla won his second singles match, scraping past a hard-fighting Yasil Khan, 6-3, 6-4, while Alcantara breezed past Muhammad Abid, 6-2, 6-1 in the no-bearing reverse singles.
"That's what we came here for, especially without [Pakistan's top player] Qureshi," Kraut said. "That was a challenge to them to win it in straight sets. I'm sure they're confident already because of that."
The team will now face either Thailand or Indonesia in September for the right to return to Group I. As of this writing Thailand leads their tie, 2-1, and Kraut is already assuming the Thais will advance, if only because they boast of world-ranked players.
"They have (Danai) Udomchoke and the Ratiwatana twins. That's who they count on," said Kraut referring to Thailand's top singles player who holds a world ranking of 168 and their doubles team that is ranked 106th. "As early as last night and this morning, that's what we were already talking about. This was our first test, and there's still one more before we get back to Group I next year."
It's still too early to name the members of the team, but whatever happens Kraut won't be wanting in choices.
"We have so many options. We have to discuss it with the big boss. I don't know yet. We'll have to see what happens. But definitely we'll have to prepare at least a month before."
E-mail: sid_ventura@yahoo.com. Twitter: @Sid_Ventura
