越南的環境真的很苦啊... Better life in Vietnam lures more to courts By Ho Binh Minh HANOI, June 30 (Reuters) - When asked to name Vietnam's best tennis player, local people playing the game introduced in the colonial era often ponder a while then say they cannot think of anyone. Rising incomes in Vietnam, one of Southeast Asia's fastest growing economies, have drawn more people into the sport brought in by the French at the start of the 20th century and which rapidly became popular among the elite. "The sport is still regarded as aristocratic," said a 44-year-old player and coach who has spent the past 35 years in sports development in Hanoi. "Tennis in Vietnam is still amateur." The level of skill is low and Vietnam, lacking proper training facilities and financial support, has not been able to compete even in regional events, leaving a black hole where the public awareness of a national famous player should be. Vu The Phiet, general secretary of the Hanoi Tennis Federation, said young players were now going abroad for intensive training, to Indonesia, Spain or the United States, so that the country should have a tennis future. They represent a fraction of the 82 million Vietnamese people, two-thirds of whom live in rural areas and, except for some officials, have little or no access to a sport regarded as far too expensive. It costs nearly $19,000 to build a court. A beginner will have to spend $130 on equipment and at least another $180 for a coach and a court for twice-weekly training sessions over three months. The current average per capita income of $540 a year makes the sport popular only in large cities. "The number of tennis courts in Ho Chi Minh City is rising, with one built in every new residential area," Nguyen Hoang Dung, general secretary of the city's tennis federation, told Reuters. ATP TOURNAMENT After five p.m. all the estimated 390 courts in the city are occupied by people who work in banks, hospitals, the construction industry, the army or the police. The limited inner-city space means more courts are being built on the outskirts. Behind Dung's office, two boys practised forehands and backhands under the tropical sun at a tennis complex built at a corner of the Phu Tho racecourse. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's commercial centre and home to 10 million people, is to host an Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) international series tournament for the first time between September 26 and October 2 and it will be held at the indoor Phu Tho complex. The tournament replaces the Shanghai event on the ATP calendar. "The people in Vietnam love tennis and they have demonstrated this by showing support to the ATP Challenger event," ATP managing director Brad Drewett said in April. The city has hosted eight Challenger tournaments so far. After 1975, when the city emerged from war only to confront a decade-long economic slowdown, tennis struggled to expand in reunified Vietnam. Only a few old courts in Hanoi were kept for retired officials, if they could find racquets which was hard to do. Balls had to be hand-carried from abroad during a prolonged U.S. trade embargo lifted only in 1994. "A racquet was worth (pots) of gold and we played with every ball until it was stripped bare," said the Hanoi coach now busy teaching white-collar workers and businessmen. ECONOMIC REFORMS Things began to change when the Communist Party launched economic reforms in 1986 and the economy grew more than eight percent annually between 1992 and 1997. After the 1997/98 Asian economic crisis, Vietnam regained growth momentum and has expanded more than seven percent in each of the past three years. Per capita income has jumped to $540 from $370 in 2000. Since late 1999, when the government cut the working week to 40 hours and made all of Saturday and Sunday a holiday, the demand to learn and improve tennis skills has boomed. Players say they find the game just the thing for Asians who like to spend time together and have fun after work. "It is very much of a relaxation with shouting and arguments," said 35-year-old Nguyen Duc Minh, who works for a foreign company in Hanoi and began playing tennis in 1997. Tennis in Vietnam has yet to find serious sponsorship, making it difficult for a promising player to develop a career. An annual tournament held in June in Hanoi drawing nearly 1,000 competitors has, however, just prompted the Vietnam unit of Dutch beer maker Heineken to pledge more financial support. The enthusiasm is certainly there. The Hanoi coach, who asked not to be identified, said he was booked from dawn to dusk by learners from the age of eight to over 50 for 70,000 dong ($4.4) an hour. "Without the ATP event tennis has already been exciting here all year round," said Dung, the tennis association official. "We run out of referees when there are too many matches at one time." ($1=15,831 dong) --

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