Nine-time Wimbledon men's doubles champion Australian Todd Woodbridge and Indonesia's former No. 1 player Angelique Widjaja shared tennis tidbits and motivational support with young players on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Bank Junior Masters finals in Jakarta on Friday.
The Junior Masters ran from Sept. 3 to 5. The winners and runners-up, totaling 12 players in all, will be given the chance to fly to Bali to watch world top players compete in the 2008 WTA Tennis Classic from Sept. 7 to 14. Among the contenders will be world No. 12 Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia and Li Na of China.
In Bali, Woodbridge, who is visiting Indonesia for the third time and Angelique, will give further playing tips to the 12 young players, who include Louis Theodor and Michael Weiss Pederson (men's U-16 winner and runner-up); Aldila Sutjiadi and Nadya Syarifah Rahman (women's U-16); M Sani Wijaya and Nur Adim Ramdani Iswan (men's U-14); Woyla Waluyo and Vanessa Wiratama (women's U-14); Dhimas Rivai Arganata and Fernando Daniel Sanger (men's U-12) and Suryaningsih and Agustin P. Palupi (women's U-12).
Woodbridge, 37, said that he gave a lot of technique lessons during such clinics.
"I'll make sure that their techniques are in good order; the most important thing in the game is if you've got good techniques when you're young, then you can continue to improve," Woodbridge told reporters at the Sultan Hotel on Friday.
He said he found most players competing in the Junior Masters looked strong in technique, compared to previous years.
"I saw that they were very aggressive and competitive... a snappy bunch," said Woodbridge, who tipped Li Na to win this year's Bali event.
"So I think, most importantly they should be competing in a lot of tournaments. Many kids just like to practice, but it won't make them players. Play matches and you've got to learn to win," he added.
Woodbridge won 83 tournament titles, including a record nine Wimbledon crowns, with his first partner Mike Woodforde and second Jonas Bjorkman.
Angelique, who won her first WTA competition in 2001 at the age of 16, said that she would tip the players on wider topics (not playing techniques) such as to how to prepare psychologically for competitions.
"Todd can go for technical things... of course, with his excellent track record. But I prefer to support their morale, for example, just to share my stories with them on when I won games in the past," said the 23 year old.
Angie, as she is more popularly known to Indonesian tennis fans, was the first Indonesian to win at Wimbledon when she defeated Dinara Safina to claim the junior singles title in 2001.
