There is no shortage of junior Grand Slam champions who haven’t quite fulfilled early promise, but there are some well known names who have made the grade, such as Martina Hingis, Amelie Mauresmo, and Marion Bartoli; all former junior major champions.
One rising star aiming to follow in their footsteps is Thailand’s Noppawan Lertcheewakarn – an 18 year old with an accomplished junior career behind her, ready to leave the chrysalis and spread her wings as a professional, who is also the winner of the 2009 Wimbledon girls title and three Grand Slam doubles titles.
Beginnings
Raised in Chiang Mai by parents of modest means, Lertcheewakarn was given mixed messages about pursuing a career in tennis. On the one hand her parents, having a love of tennis, encouraged her to take it up, and quite by chance introduced her to Steffi Graff’s former coach Marek Malaszszak, who recognised her potential. Yet on the other hand, Lertcheewakarn’s friends would tell her that it was all a waste of time and money to pursue tennis. ”Their criticism encouraged me,”she told the Bangkok Post.
Following generous support from the Rico Foundation, Thai Tennis Association, and even a former politician… she now stands on the cusp of an exciting future, and holds a level of ambition which can readily service the hopes invested in her by sponsors such Adidas, the Thai Petroleum Authority, and also by a burgeoning fan following. “My goal is to reach the top 20 in the next four years,” she said, stating that her goal for 2010 is top 100.
Yet success is never assured – and here follow two questions.
Expectation
Firstly, how will she handle the pressure of expectation generated by media and fans? We have already seen with Sania Mirza the heartfelt support, sometimes bordering on the fanatical, which Asian fans are prepared to lavish upon national sporting idols. Mirza is a good, solid professional, but you sometimes get the feeling that even if she was the world number one it would not be quite enough for some. Is this what lies ahead for Lertcheewakarn?
Former pro David Lloyd was in Bangkok when Lertcheewakarn returned home, “It was astonishing,” he said. “I don’t think I’d ever seen anything like it. The reaction of the Thai people to a girl winning the Wimbledon junior championship was incredible.” A reaction which even included an audience with the Thai Prime Minister no less.
During the tournament Lertcheewakarn admitted, ”I have more pressure than last year,” saying how she cannot go anywhere in Bangkok without people recognising her, and that she’d prefer to have a bit less attention.
Game
The second question is does she have the game to realise her ambition? Lertcheewakarn plays with two hands on both sides, similar to Monica Seles and Marion Bartoli. When asked about her favourite players, she replied, “I like a lot of players. Marion Bartoli, because she hits very well and takes the ball early, like my style of two hands on both sides.”
The double-fisted game offers many East Asian players on the women’s tour a way of mitigating the height and power deficit they often encounter against players of European and African-American origin. The style characterises players such as China’s Shuai Peng, and the Japanese duo, Aiko Nakamura and Ayumi Morita.
This 5’ 5” fighter has strong stable strokes, powerful returns, and the stamina to out rally other players when she doesn’t opt for a quick winner. She reads the games of her opponents superbly well, and will talk in detail about the strategy she employed against them. After losing to Kristina Mladenovic at Roehampton, a week later she found a way to reduce the rocket to rubble with an intelligent and tenacious performance in the Wimbledon girls final.
Lertcheewakarn’s chief vulnerability is her serve; clocked at 85MPH against Mladenovic. A serve which could get clocked at a higher level. Yet having beaten one of the hardest serving juniors, Lertcheewakarn has every right to feel confident of making exponential progress on the Tour.
I for one will be keeping my fingers crossed as Lertcheewakarn (nicknamed Nok, which means bird) embarks on her fledgling career. She is one of the brightest hopes in the so-called Selesian game.
Alice Cochrane runs Marion Bartoli Fan Blog, recently quoted by the respected Israeli publication Ha’aretz.
It’s really cool to see Selesians winning the junior Majors; Kristína Kucová winning the US Open 2007 was another.
One mistake, though: “Akai” Nakamura’s given name is actually Aiko.
Great article, Alice! Thanks again for joining us!
Thanks, Andrew, for pointing that out. It’s been fixed.
Cheers Aaress, my privilege!
Happy new year to all!
She is a great hope for tennis, I am happy she turned pro at last. She is indeed very talented and I think in a couple of years we will see her conquer some major.
She has exsited somewhat in the shadow of players like Robson and Mladenovic, outside Thailand anyway.
Within Thailand – already she has been lumbered with the new Tammy tag, and will be expected to carry the nations hope post-Paradorn. Maybe it’s just as well Tanasugarn doesn’t have any plans to retire just yet..
Nok has served a sensible long apprenticeship as a junior.. She is a very exciting prospect. The tour can do with all the diversity it can get these days, and a two handed forehand in the upper echelon of the game over the next decade, would be no bad thing. Her game is perfect for grass.
I just hope she’ll not turn out to be a ball basher. There’s too many of those on the tour already and it didn’t do the game any good
. And also hopefully she doesn’t scream her lungs out while playing which is quite popular these days.
I would not describe Lertcheewakarn as a ball-basher. She’s more of a counterpuncher, who thrives on pace from her opponents, and hits great angles to put her opponent in awkward positions. Her opponents also struggle to handle her lack of pace. But she can play aggressively (from the baseline) too.
Sounds good, well the girl has a potential that’s for sure. It’d be intersting how she and Heather Watson will interact with the “titans”. Well, if they follow in the footsteps of Caroline that’s the way to go
Although the days of young miracles winning majors (womens’) such as Hingis are long gone.