No sponsor for Thai ace Luksika

 

Error-prone Luksika lost to Julia Goerges of Germany 6-4 6-4 on Tuesday in the first round and will lose 30 points. She is expected to fall to No 108, from the current No 98, when the WTA rankings are updated on Monday.

But the 20-year-old Thai ace is no longer concerned about the rankings after being “overcome by many thoughts and losing concentration” during the match.

“It happens to every player. Not matter what your ranking is, if you don’t have good results, you will slip down the rankings,” said Luksika. “I thought too much during the match [with Goerges] and I didn’t play my game. 

“I was always thinking ahead and didn’t stay in the present. It’s time I give up this habit,” added Luksika, who after playing for Thailand in the French Cup in Kazakhstan next week is planning to skip a few events to focus on important tournaments.

“I have a lot of points to defend in Kuala Lumpur, where I reached the quarterfinals last year. I need to be selective about my schedule this year,” said Luksika, who cracked the top 100 for the first time at the end of last year, reaching as high as 87th.

The Thai is also determined to focus on clay court events, as she feels more comfortable on that surface than on grass.

“I think I can play on clay better than on grass. It suits my game more than grass. It’s quite strange, as Tamarine [Tanasugarn] and Noppawan [Lertcheewakarn] love grass, but I don’t. I plan to work harder on clay as there are many events on the surface,” added the Thai, who hits with two hands on both sides.

Strange but true, Luksika, despite being the country’s No 1, has to buy her own tennis outfit. She has been seen wearing the same Adidas clothes, orange and blue, since last year.

“I bought my own tennis wear as I don’t have sponsors for my clothes. I talked to certain brands but they were not interested,” said Luksika. 

Meanwhile, in the US$250,000 PTT Pattaya Open, fourthseeded Ekaterina Makarova of Russia played aggressive tennis from the baseline to beat former two-time champion Vera Zvonerava 6-0 6-2 in an allRussian second round matchup yesterday. 

The 28th-ranked Makarova, who is left-handed, dominated the baseline rallies against Zvonareva, who is making a comeback to tennis after being sidelined by injuries for more than a year. Makarova extends her winloss record over Zvonareva to 3-1. She will play either Japan’s Kimiko DateKrumm or Slovenia’s Tadeja Majeric in the quarterfinals.

Earlier in the morning, Tamarine Tanasugarn along with her fellow players including Goerges of Germany, Alla Kudryavtseva, Hsieh Suwei of Taiwan, Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, Varatchaya Wongteanchai and Nicha Lertpitaksinchai took part in a treeplanting programme at the hotel. The activity was part of PTT’s campaign to help ease global warming.