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ndonesian junior tennis player Tami Grende can sit back and enjoy arranging her tournament schedule without needing to worry about traveling costs, as Air Asia will provide her with free flights to all of its destinations around the world.

The 14-year-old ace is the first Indonesian athlete to be sponsored by the airline, which expects the Balinese girl to manage her tournament schedule and focusing on her target to become one of the world’s top 100 players by 2012.

“I was surprised but also happy. Thanks to Air Asia, with this sponsorship I can go further to improve my technical abilities. I want to make Indonesia, and Bali in particular, proud in the international tennis arena,” Tami said in a statement sent to The Jakarta Post.

She was flown to Air Asia’s Indonesian office at Soekarno- Hatta International Airport in Jakarta on Tuesday to shoot a commercial, which will be released in December.

“I have been following her progress since she was eight, and she has made huge strides since then,” tennis expert Adji Soedibjo said in the statement.

“She started her international junior career in June 2010 and within 16 months she had 11 ITF [the International Tennis Federation] tournaments under her belt and had reached her best rank of 138th in the world as of Nov. 7 this year. This is a great achievement and we should be proud of her.”

Tami won her first title at only her sixth international tournament in February 2011 when she won the ITF Malacca International Junior Championship.

“With no sponsorship so far, all the work that has been done by her parents to support and train their daughter deserves honor and respect,” Adji said, adding that great tennis players were not born overnight but were created through better training, competing in tournaments and a strong support network.

In June it was reported that Tami was unable to participate in the ITF tour in Europe due to visa problems.

Tami was selected to join the Asian team tour to Europe after she dominated Group 1 of the ITF/ATF 14 and under Asian Championships at the Kemayoran Tennis Center in Jakarta from March 22 to April 3. She won both the girls’ singles and doubles titles, the first time a player has accomplished that feat in the history of the championships.