Patrombon licks his wounds, looks ahead

After a tough loss to a formidable opponent at the 2011 Australian Open Juniors competition, Jeson Patrombon and his coach, Manny Tecson, look forward to what’s ahead for the young Filipino ace. Eighth-seeded Patrombon lost in his quarterfinals match Thursday against the tournament’s No. 4 seed, George Morgan of the United Kingdom, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 in a three-and-a-half-hour marathon. With his performance, the 17-year-old hard-hitter from Iligan City has now moved up into the top ten of the world juniors rankings. “I am very proud of Jeson and very satisfied with our result here. All the goals that I have set are being achieved one by one. Our objective was to make the quarterfinals in singles of a grand slam and to break into the Top 10 rankings in the world. Both goals have been achieved because of this quarterfinal result in the Aussie Open, and Jeson will now barge into the Top 10 rankings by next week," confirmed Tecson. Tecson stressed that the year will be a transitional one for Patrombon, with the Australian Open quarterfinalist opting to divide his tournament schedule to 60% juniors and 40% professional tournaments. “This year will be a gradual transition for Jeson in the pros because he still needs to grow and improve a lot of things in his mental, physical and tactical game in tennis. I have decided to cancel (our participation in) the $10,000 Men’s Futures tournament this February in Turkey because Jeson needs to go back to the doctor to remove a small portion of the wart that was operated on before but is still imbedded in his foot. The physiotherapist here saw the small wart when he was shaving a portion of Jeson’s foot callus so he can put medicine cream and taping on it," added Patrombon’s mentor. After attending to his injuries, Patrombon will again start competing in March at the ITF/LTAT Junior Championships in Thailand, followed by the 12th Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup in Malaysia and the Mitsubishi Lancer International Juniors Championships in the Philippines. The three juniors tournaments in March will be followed up with Patrombon’s participation in his first Men’s Futures tournament, which will be held in India. Patrombon will leave Australia not just with experience and respect from the international tennis community. He has also earned a lot of support from Filipinos living Down Under. “Our kababayans here are very proud of us for reaching the quarters of the Australian Open boys singles. They said that it has been a long time since a Filipino junior player has reached this far in singles in a grand slam, and to be ranked among the Top 10 in the world is simply amazing. We are very proud to show the world here at the Australian Open that the Philippine flag is one among eight nations flying high in the quarterfinals of the boy’s singles," said Tecson. -- OMG, GMANews.TV