THE SRICHAPHAN FAMILY OF THAILAND

Talking with Paradorn during the filming of "Asian Ace"

When I first arrived in Asia at the start of my tennis coaching career very few Asian players featured on the world tennis scene.  Michael Chang was about to emerge as a top player but he was never really considered a product of Asia.  His parents had left Taiwan for the US many years before and he developed his tennis in the US.  South East Asian countries like Thailand, Indonesia and The Philippines had talented players back then but none that could earn a living on the main tour. 

Within my first few weeks of living in Thailand I remember going to the local tennis centre and watching the Thailand National Championships.  The final was between two eighteen year olds, Woraphol Thongkamchu and Thanakorn Srichaphan.  I was surprised how talented both these guys were. This early exposure to Thai tennis probably planted the seed in my mind that I would one day coach the Thai National teams.  I eventually had a long association with Thai tennis and captained the Thai Davis Cup and Federation Cup teams for several years.

The Srichaphan family was already a prominent feature at local tournaments.  Thanakorn the eldest brother played singles in the Thai Davis Cup Team and was ranked 1 or 2 in the country for many years.  Narathorn the middle brother was already a top ten junior in the world and eventually reached the quarter-finals at junior Wimbledon in 1990.  As Davis Cup Captain I would inevitably select the two Srichaphan brothers for our ties against the other countries.

Paradorn Srichaphan was only six years old when I arrived in Thailand but I followed his progress in the local junior tournaments and he was obviously going to be as successful as his two older brothers. 

Behind the scenes was their father Chanachai Srichaphan who took his three sons to the court every morning before school started.  Chanachai was a tough task master who believed that hard work took you places in life.  He had been a bank clerk in Khon Khaen, nine hours drive north of Bangkok when his eldest son began to have some success in local junior tournaments.  Based on that success he moved his entire family to Bangkok to pursue the tennis dream.  They lived for many years in a hut beside a volley wall at the Bangna Tennis Club.  Somehow Chanachai, his wife, three growing sons and their grandmother lived in that one room hut.  It can’t have been easy but Chanachai had a dream and each son would later invest in that same dream.

I was privileged to watch Paradorn climb the tennis rankings until he became the 9^th ranked player in the world.  Perhaps my favourite memory however is watching Paradorn beat Andre Agassi on centre court at Wimbledon.  Paradorn out-hit Agassi from the baseline that day and thoroughly deserved his win, but it was his father in the players box that stole the show for me.  Here was a man who had risked all to pursue a dream that started many years earlier back in Khon Khaen.  He had sat in the famed players box of the most famous court in the world and watched his son beat the defending Wimbledon Champion and a legion of the game.  The dream had come true for Chanachai.

I have been able to stay in touch with the Srichaphan family since the boys retired from professional tennis.  Thanakorn and Narathorn now coach, Thanakorn back in his hometown and Narathorn in Bangkok.  Paradorn enjoys a life as a local celebrity and is involved in a wide variety of projects, including a small part in a Thai movie as an ancient Thai warrior.  He is known and respected throughout Asia.

I was privileged to meet them early in my coaching career.  They are an amazing family who were blessed to turn a dream into a reality.