※ [本文轉錄自 Srichaphan 看板]
作者: rolandgarros (倫敦，紐約，墨爾本) 看板: Srichaphan
標題: Time雜誌的斯里查潘的報導
時間: Sat Feb 21 22:00:18 2004
http://www.time.com/time/asia/2003/heroes/paradorn_srichaphan.html
Paradorn Srichaphan
A rising Thai tennis star wins—and smiles—big
By Bryan Walsh
Pro tennis players are too often a combination of natural talent and
unnaturally bad temper. Not Thai star Paradorn Srichaphan. You won't see
Paradorn protesting a line call by smashing his racquet into graphite shards or
by questioning the parentage of the chair umpire. Whatever the outcome of his
matches, his manners remain, well, courtly. He unfailingly thanks the fans by
performing the wai—the traditional Thai bow—to the four corners of the
stadium.
That pleasant hard-court demeanor does not mean he lacks killer instincts.
Indeed, Paradorn is from the Land of Smiles. So he smiles when he blows a 210-
km/h serve by you. He smiles as he cheerfully rips a forehand down the line.
And he smiles as he ascends the ladder of the world's best tennis players,
rising a head-spinning 110 spots in 2002 to end the year at No. 16 in the
Association of Tennis Professionals' (ATP) tour rankings—becoming the first
Asian male to breach the top 20 since 1980. "He's fast becoming one of the best
players in the international campaign," says ATP's CEO Mark Miles. But perhaps
more importantly, Paradorn, who lives in Bangkok, is proving to his countrymen
that he can succeed without sacrificing his essential Thai-ness.
In Thailand, which as a sporting nation is best known for kickboxing and
transvestite volleyball, being a rising superstar in a global game confers
instant fame. "Paradorn is our first international icon with mass appeal," says
Pana Janviroj, editor of the Bangkok newspaper the Nation, which named the
tennis player as 2002's "Thai of the Year."
After returning home to Bangkok at the end of last season, he was so inundated
by attention that he wasn't able to touch a racquet for two weeks. When
Paradorn and Thai PM Thaksin Shinawatra led a public aerobics session outside
Bangkok's Grand Palace last November, a world record 47,000 people showed up in
the heavy rain. Paradorn even scored a private royal audience with King
Bhumibol Adulyadej, an experience Paradorn, being a good Thai, rates as his
highest honor.
In some respects Paradorn's ascent was as unlikely as it was sudden. At an
un-Thai-like 1.85 m and 81 kg, Paradorn, 23, was strong enough to hit overhead
smashes like cruise missiles, but control problems left him languishing in the
ATP's rankings. Working with his father, who is also his coach, he has more
recently learned to control his game for greater consistency and fewer unforced
errors. He's since beaten Andre Agassi at Wimbledon, won three ATP tournaments
and opened this year's Australian Open at center court and was, at press time,
set to break into the top 10.
If he continues his white-hot success, Paradorn has the chance to do for tennis
in Asia what half-Thai Tiger Woods did for golf in America: open a once elitist
sport up to a new group of recreational and professional players. Interest in
tennis has spiked over the past year in Thailand, and Bangkok will host its
first ATP tournament in September.
The burden of national expectations continues to weigh on Paradorn's broad
shoulders, but he takes it in stride. "The recognition," he says, "keeps me
motivated." He'll be getting plenty of motivation from fans such as Pirakij
Siributwong, a promising 13-year-old Thai tennis player. "I want to be just
like him because he's showed that Asians can be among the best in the world,"
says Pirakij. "And he's still polite, too."
—With reporting by Robert Horn/Bangkok
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