Players just need more motivation: coach

Chinese men's tennis players once again failed to rise to the occasion at the China Open, but Boris Becker's former coach believes they could make an impact on the professional tour with a little more motivation.

The Australian mentor has won wide recognition after working with a number of top players in his 30-year coaching career including Becker, Goran Ivanisevic, Andre Medvedev and Mario Ancic.

"What Chinese boys need most is motivation," Bob Brett said at the China Open in Beijing.

"I know a lot of people say Asian men's players cannot win major tournaments because of some genetic reasons, but that's not the case.

"They need more desire to compete on the tour, and with a strong motivation, Chinese players will be able to overcome physical disadvantages and all sorts of things that people believe they do not have."

Brett was employed by Tianjin Tennis Association earlier this year to work with China's top singles player and world No 535 Sun Peng.

Despite losing in the first round at the tournament, the 24-year-old has given Brett some new ideas about Chinese.

"I don't think Chinese lack strength or are slow, like some told me," Brett said.

"On the contrary, Sun is very strong and quick. Obviously he is a quick-learner, and I am happy to see his forehand has reached a pretty good level.

"But I think he might be short of desire that's a situation I need to deal with."

China's women earned their place on the WTA Tour by reproducing the determination that won them gold in Athens, but China's men's players are yet to show any dramatic improvement.

National team players are now around 800 in the rankings and are forced to spend most of their time competing in ITF (International Tennis Association) Futures fixtures, the lowest-level pro tournaments.

A total of three Chinese - Sun, Yu Xinyuan and Zeng Shaoxuan - competed at the home tournament last week but only Zeng advanced to the second round before losing to defending champion Marcos Baghdatis 7-6 (7/3), 7-5.

But Brett remains upbeat about his Chinese charges.

"I am always experimenting to find ways to get Sun to improve," he said.

"I have seen him make a lot of progress this year, and I am sure he will make the top 200 someday. Top 100? Why not?

"In working with Boris, it was great to see someone with the mind, the game, and the ability to execute everything and to see him deal with the pressures of being a superstar while also being at the top of his game, so I will try to bring such experience to Sun."

South Korean Lee Hyung-taik, the highest-ranked Asian at No 39, echoed Brett by saying it's just a matter of time before Chinese men contest the top events.

"For sure they can play," said Lee, who advanced to the top 16 at the US Open last week in New York.

"They are very good players technically and they just need to play more tournaments to climb up the rankings.

"Chinese women's players are playing impressively on the tour, so I think the male athletes already have some very good examples and they should follow the girls to join in as many tournaments as possible."

The men's team has made some improvements even if they're not widely reported.

Yu and Zheng won two doubles Challenges in Italy in May and moved into the top 200 rankings from around 400.

Also, Sun has climbed more then 300 positions after winning two Futures tournaments in China.

According to national team coach Xie Zhao, the squad plays more than 15 international tournaments each year, up from just three five years ago.

The early 1990s was a better time for China's men's tennis, when Pan Bing reached No 180 in the world after he had won gold at the Beijing Asian Games in 1990.

"I am confident to overcome Pan on the rankings," said 26-year-old national champion Zeng.

"We played more competitions than Pan 15 years ago and we understand the pro tour better than them, so I am sure me and my teammates will have bigger achievements in the future."

The men's national team is based in Beijing this month and is scheduled to compete in ITF Futures events in South Korea and Japan in October.

(China Daily 09/19/2007 page22)