Change is the name of the game

LIFE as a top ranked junior player has not been easy for Christian Didier Chin.

Christian, the World No 81 in the ITF boys' junior ranking, is now finding it tough to sustain the pace in bigger tournaments.

However, the 17-year-old is taking measures to change his game.

He made amends from his first round defeat in a Grade Two event in Beijing last month by reaching the singles and doubles finals of the Perlis Junior Championships (Grade Four) in Kangar.

In the doubles final, ChristianNaufal Siddiq Kamaruzzaman were thrashed 6-2, 6-1 by Arthur Craig Pantino of the Philippines and Beibit Zhukayew of Kazakhstan on Saturday.

Christian, the top seed, lost 63, 1-6, 6-1 to second seed Ng Ki Lung of Hong Kong in yesterday’s singles final.

“I am in the process of changing my game. I need to be more aggressive and also take risks for clean winners.

“Frankly, I need to level up my game as the pressure is now different,” said Christian, a finallist at the Asian Junior Championships (Grade B1) in Pune in June, yesterday.

“These changes are necessary as I want to make it big in the sport, but currently I am not playing my best tennis.

“You can only experiment through matches and I am currently doing just that.

“My run in Kangar is a good achievement. It makes you better when you can still win matches by playing badly.”

Christian will head to Taiwan and Sarawak for ITF junior events before he makes his senior tour debut in three Futures events in Malaysia.

He has been offered wildcards to play the Futures in Kuching (Oct 16-22) and in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 23-29 and Oct 30-Nov 5.

“I have accepted the main draw wild cards for the singles and doubles events in all three stops.

“This is an opportunity to make a grade in the senior tour.

“I am not playing for experience as I hope to earn ATP ranking points,” Christian added. Ajitpal Singh