12-year-old makes final 8 on ATF U-14 debut

SINGAPORE — He turns 12 next Monday, but talented tennis tween Ethan Lye has already unfurled his flag on the Asian Tennis Federation’s (ATF) Under-14 circuit, embarking on a journey that will hopefully see the Thailand-based Singaporean turning professional by 2019.

Ethan’s debut on the ATF Junior Circuit took place last week in the Lawn Tennis Association of Thailand’s U-14 Thailand Circuit 1/2013 tournament in Bangkok, where he was unseeded.

Having made the journey to the Thai capital with his mother, Vera, from their Chiangmai home, Ethan successfully negotiated his first-round tie against his Thai opponent in three sets.

But it was his next match that made observers take notice — he dished out a “double bagel” to Kittikawin Naksalingcaren, beating his fifth-seeded Thai opponent 6-0, 6-0 to book his place in the quarter-finals.

However, Ethan’s singles championship journey ended there as he lost 6-3, 6-2 to fourth seed Nutthasith Kunsuwan, who went on to win the tournament.

Playing in the classification matches, Ethan won his first tie but lost the next one to end up in overall sixth place.

Apart from his creditable results, what also surprised the shy Ethan during the competition was an invitation by Koki Matsuda of Japan, the tournament’s top seed, to team up for the doubles competition. The pair made it to the semi-finals before losing to an experienced Thai pairing.

Speaking to TODAY via Skype, Ethan said he learnt a few lessons from his ATF debut.

“I did pretty well to get to the quarter-finals, I was hitting the ball consistently, especially in the second round, but the guy in the quarter-final was just too big for me,” he said.

“Playing in the doubles was really fun, especially finding out how to communicate with Koki, who’s also based in Bangkok and who signed me up after speaking to me briefly.

“Right now, I’m working with my coach and putting 100-per-cent effort in training, and I’m looking forward to using what I’ve learnt in my next tournament.”

For Vera Lye, her son’s good showing in his U-14 debut was a consistent follow-through from his previous tournament — the PTT Junior Championships U-12 meet in Bangkok, which he won two weeks earlier.

Prior to that, Ethan also did well in three tournaments in Slovakia in July. He had gone to the East European country after representing Singapore in the Longines Future Tennis Aces event in Paris, which was held together with the French Open.

During his six weeks in Slovakia, Ethan won the Fresh Cup Svolen and lost the title matches in the Saris Cup and the Dermapoint Cup.

“Now is a critical time for Ethan’s technical development and for him to get to good-level junior age group tournaments to gain the match experience and confidence,” said Vera of her son’s move into the U-14 ranks.

“Ethan’s grown up a fair bit this year, and the European stint was a good experience for him. We are pleased ... he could match the Europeans and the Thais in his age group.

“It has surfaced areas we have to work on — his inner game, his intensity, conditioning and all those things outside of the actual technical tennis skills. Ethan still needs to play a lot more matches — more wins and losses to grow and develop.

“Our expectations for him now are only that he learns, grows and improves in his inner and outer game after each tournament.”