Thai legend sharpens focus to find champions of the future

A Thai sporting legend, Paradorn Srichaphan, has indulged in several other passions during his stellar life. Immediately after his retirement in 2010 he raced motorbikes, then attempted a career in golf after breaking both hands and injuring a knee on two wheels.
Now, finally, he has returned to his favourite arena, the tennis court.
This time, though, he is feeding the ball to a group of youngsters who hope to follow in his footsteps as the most successful tennis player in Thai history. 
The former world No 9 is now running his own teaching programme, the True Arena Paradorn International Tennis Academy, in Hua Hin.
“After retirement I did several things but in the end I found out tennis is always my thing,” said Paradorn, who spent 3-4 years on local golf tours but he was far from a success, despite receiving his pro status in 2016.
“So I decided to open an international academy with True Arena so that these kids won’t have to travel far to Europe or the US to enter international academy,” added Paradorn, who was forced to quit playing professionally due to wrist injury.

Paradorn Srichaphan is training youngsters in Hua Hin.

The winner of five ATP titles said physical strength was the main focus of his academy, which is designed for those pursuing a career in tennis.
“Strong legs are very important in tennis. But at the same time players need to have strong muscles in the upper part of their bodies as well,” the 39-year-old Paradorn said.
In terms of hitting techniques, the former tennis star said his training programme was intensive but variety would be added to make it fun for the youngsters.
“Enjoying the training is the key so players have a good time on court and pay attention to the instruction,” he said.
As the first Asian man to make the world’s top 10 in 2003 – he had a string of big-name scalps, including former world No 1s Andre Agassi,  Lleyton Hewitt and  Andy Roddick – Paradorn said he wanted to pass on his tour experience to his students so they could benefit form it once they started playing overseas events.
However, his mission comes with a warning: don’t expect the results to show in the short term.  
“It will take up to five or maybe 10 years to have the next stars in Thai tennis. Things like this take time,” he said.
“But the kids must have be really committed to intensive training if they want to succeed.”
After Paradorn and Tamarine Tanasugarn, his counterpart on the women’s side,  Thailand has yet to produce a tennis star. 
Luksika Kumkhum is Thailand’s top-rated current player at world No 98 but she still has a long way to go before she can be regarded as having achieved as much as her illustrious predecessors.
Paradorn was divorced from his first wife, former Miss Universe Natale Glebova, in 2011 after a three-year marriage.
He is now living with his second wife Nitchapak, with whom he has a three-month-old daughter, Cherlyn.