Mohd Assri Merzuki
KUCHING: Sarawak’s professional tennis player, Mohd Assri Merzuki, has received much help from experienced ATP (Association of Tennis Players) Tour player Marian Voineo of Italy.
According to his coach Doru Sorin Murariu of Tennis Players Fitness Institute in Florida, the U.S., the institute hired Marian, a former ATP number 30 player,
as a strong hitting partner for Assri to help him elevate his game.
Murariu said Marian played a crucial role in developing his brother Adrian Voinea who became the world number 36 when he reached his ATP ranking in 1996.
“Assri also had the chance to train with Adrian for a couple of days in Italy in July,” he said.
While in Italy, Assri had the chance to learn many things from Marian as well as train and play matches with players who were ranked between ATP 200 and 500.
“Assri needs to be able to play more tournaments in Europe where the level of play is very high.”
“I am also planning to improve his doubles ranking. I have an agreement with Vijayant Malik of India to play doubles with Assri for four tournaments,” added Murariu.
One of the tournaments will be in the US while the other three will be in Canada.
Vijayant has the best ATP ranking in the Indian national team for the Davis Cup.
Prior to the Italy trip, Assri had also played in tournaments in Romania and Turkey.
Assri will join the Malaysian team in Dubai for the Group 3 Davis Cup tournament on September 9.
He is currently ranked the number one player in the national team.
His coach has also suggested to the Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association to secure wildcard entries for him in the singles and doubles competitions of the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur in September.