KUCHING: Sarawak junior tennis player Ariez Elyaas Deen Hesham finished second in the men’s open of the Circuit Absolut De La Federacio Catalana De Tennis in Barcelona, Spain in July.
A STEP FORWARD: Ariez with the runner-up trophy he won in the men’s tournament in Barcelona, Spain. Photo by Davidson Kho
The 17-year-old, who is now number 600+ in the International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior boys rankings, was beaten by a Russian opponent 6-4, 6-4 in the final of the men’s tournament.
The tournament was held for local and international players to gain tournament exposure and ranking points.
“I was playing in the main draw and I am very happy with this achievement as this is the first final I have reached playing outside the country. I was playing very well and this result has given me much confidence to go for future competitions,” said Ariez.
The good performance in Barcelona confirmed his improvement in the sport.
He is now physically stronger and executes better ground strokes and forehand.
Ariez looks forward to playing in more men’s tournaments next year and score more ATP ranking points. He will also hopes to play for Malaysia in the Davis Cup next year which will also be his final year to play for Sarawak in the ITF junior championships in Kuching.
The player was back in Kuching with his father and coach Deen Hesham Tan Abdullah for two weeks of rest and body conditioning.
He was one of the selected six boys and two girls under the Lawn Tennis Association of Malaysia (LTAM) junior development programme chosen to train at the AP High Performance tennis academy in Barcelona.
Ariez will return to the academy for a further three-month training and possible extension of another three months. Earlier this year, Ariez bagged the men’s singles gold and men’s doubles silver to help Sarawak clinch the overall champion title at Sukma.
LTAM vice president Dato Patrick Liew said Ariez’s achievement has shown that the move by the national body to spend over RM200,000 to send junior players for training abroad was a right one as it was beginning to show results.
He said LTAM was grooming young players to replace the aging seniors and in a year or two, the national squad would be wholly made up of players coming through the junior ranks.
“In any part of the world, all the top players have to come from the juniors. We hope to see our junior players represent the country at the Davis Cup,” added Liew, who is also Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association president.
“I believe that Ariez’s achievement will spark the people’s interest in tennis and spur its development in Sarawak and that he and another rising star Mohd Assri Merzuki, who is now training in the US, will become role models for our junior players.”
However, he felt that the all-rounder Ariez should play in more men’s tournaments to gain more experience, confidence and learn how to stay more focused in his game.
“I am planning to play him in more junior and men’s tournaments next year. Even if he loses in these competitions, I believe he will learn how to face the challenge both physically and mentally and in the process become a better and more confident player,” said Liew.