Noppawan needs help to reach her potential

It’s hard to believe that the former world junior No 1, now 20, has been travelling alone on the world tour for almost two years with no coach. When I asked her why, the answer was: “It takes a lot of money.” 

In other words, she doesn’t have a sponsor to hire a coach.

What’s wrong with this? Why should a player of this calibre, who made history by becoming the first Thai to win the junior girls singles title at Wimbledon in 2009, have no coach? How could the Lawn Tennis Association of Thailand (LTAT) let this happen?

The LTAT, as the official body in charge of Thai tennis, has boasted for a long time that it intends to produce the next Tamarine Tanasugarn or the next Paradorn Srichaphan. Year after year I hear the same statements and unfortunately they have become more and more empty promises. All talk but no action.

Two years after her splash at Wimbledon, Noppawan has seen more downs than ups. She now hovers around the top 200 when she should have already cracked into the top 100. Her peers like Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, No 22 in the world, Ksenia Pervak of Kazakhstan, No 37, and Polona Hercog of Slovenia, No 38, have all made a successful transition from juniors to the WTA level. What a waste for a such talented player; people of this ability don’t come along every day in our country. Noppawan needs a helping hand before it’s too late.

We all know that players aged around 19–22 face a critical period because pursuing their goal in tennis depends on the results they show at this stage. This is the time that players need proper guidance and training to prepare themselves to compete in Futures, Challenger, smaller tournaments in WTA and ATP Tours, bigger events and eventually Grand Slams.

Noppawan, currently 184 on the WTA rankings, will find it hard to go beyond this stage unless she has a coach who can accompany her on the tour. You just can’t let a 20-year-old travel alone, create her own training programme, find a hitting partner, book a court for practice, observe her opponents and figure out ways to beat them on her own. Even top 10 players need a coach and in some cases a personal trainer or a psychologist to travel with them and arrange things for them so they can fully focus on tennis, which is their priority.

I have no idea what keeps the LTAT boss Suwat Liptapanlop so tied up that he doesn’t acknowledge problems like this faced by the players. Maybe he is so excited about returning to politics once the five-year ban is lifted in May that he has neglected his commitment to Thai tennis.

Obviously Tamarine Tanasugarn and Danai Udomchoke are not getting any younger and the time when they hang up their racquets is edging nearer. And thus far Noppawan appears to be the only one who has the potential to follow in their footsteps. Other than her I can see no one on the horizon.

But she will never reach her potential unless someone finds a decent coach and picks up the tab. Noppawan is urgently in need of a Good Samaritan, who can lend her a helping hand.