Hewitt defeat fails to ruin Paradorn's big year
Martyn Herman
Paradorn Srichaphan's extraordinary year came to a close on Saturday when he was eventually tamed by world number one Lleyton Hewitt in the semi-finals of the Paris Masters.
The 23-year-old Thai, one of the hottest properties in the game, has shot up the rankings from a lowly 120 at the start of the year, to within touching distance of the 16th position attained by India's Vijay Amritraj in 1980.
Should he go higher than that, and all the signs are that he will, Paradorn will become the highest ranked Asian player of all time.
After a good start to the season when he reached the semi-finals in Chennai, India, and his first ATP final in Brest, Paradorn's form dipped during the claycourt season, suffering three consecutive first-round defeats.
Everything was to change at Wimbledon, however, where he produced one of the biggest shocks of the year to crush Andre Agassi in straight sets.
From then on the Thai suddenly added self-belief to his breathtaking ability, and his career has gone into orbit.
"When I beat Agassi people could have called it a fluke," he said. "But I've proved that it wasn't with my results. I beat Hewitt in Tokyo and if you can beat the number one in the world you think you can beat anybody."
That attitude propelled him to his second career title (the first was this year in Long Island) in Stockholm last week and he continued the surge into Paris where he thrashed world number four, Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero en route to the semi-finals.
Paradorn is one of the most popular players on the tour and according to American player Andy Roddick "nobody has a bad word to say about him."
FATHER FIGURE
He has a remarkably simple attitude to the game, and while many players surround themselves with physios, psychologists and fitness trainers, Paradorn is happy to be coached by his father Chanachai.
"People say I should change my coach, but why?" he says. "My father has got me from outside the top 100 to in the top 20 so I think it works pretty well."
He is also content to continue living off the beaten tennis track in Bangkok, practising in the humid climate with tennis playing brothers Tanakorn and Naratorn, the latter who is also a full-time player.
"It means a lot of travelling, but Bangkok is my home," he said. "I like it there and it also means that I'm very used to the heat wherever I go on tour."
Paradorn puts his meteoric rise down to some simple advice from his father.
"I used to try and hit winners from all over the court," he said. "My dad just told me you better start just getting into court and making your opponent work and wait for the right ball to go after."
Those words of wisdom have certainly paid off this season as he tries to emulate his boyhood idol, American Michael Chang.
"He's one of the great Asian players and reached number two in the world," said Paradorn who is becoming something of a phenomenon in his native Thailand.
"He's the one that I'm always looking up to. Hopefully there will be a lot of young kids looking up to me soon."
Paradorn's emergence as one of the game's most exciting young players is a major boost for the men's game which is sometimes accused of lacking characters.
His shots are mesmerising, he prowls the court with the grace of a tiger, and, most of all, he plays the game with a smile on his face.
LUCKY SHIRT
He even politely bows, Thai-style, to all four corners of the stadium after he finishes a match. Then, of course, there is the lucky red shirt, which is becoming part of his appeal.
Whenever he is close to winning a match, he pulls on a red shirt, the traditional colours for Thais on Sunday.
"When I put that shirt on it means I'm gonna finish the match, I'm gonna win the match," he said after his entertaining battle with Roddick on Friday.
"I love playing tennis and showing my personality on the court."
If he had won one of the four break points he held against Hewitt at 3-3 in the deciding set on Saturday, he says the shirt would have come out of the bag again. That would have been a dream end to a fabulous year.
