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Jakarta Post

Legend Yayuk Basuki aims for RI renaissance

Regeneration: Indonesian tennis legend, Yayuk Basuki (left), coaches a young girl during the WTA Future Stars Clinic in Jakarta on Sunday

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Mon, July 25, 2016

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Legend Yayuk Basuki aims for RI renaissance

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span class="inline inline-center">Regeneration: Indonesian tennis legend, Yayuk Basuki (left), coaches a young girl during the WTA Future Stars Clinic in Jakarta on Sunday.(Courtesy of Pelti)

Indonesian tennis legend, former world number 19 Yayuk Basuki, still has that fire in her heart. Deep down, she keeps alive the hope of finding the next generation of trailblazers in the sport in the country.

Yayuk took part in a World Tennis Association (WTA) Future Stars Clinic on Saturday, working with the young talent on court while sharing some of her memories of being a professional athlete.

“I’ve always followed all the WTA’s plans for growing the game in Indonesia, and hopefully this works,” Yayuk told wtatennis.com.

The Jakarta WTA Future Stars Clinic made its third stop of the 2016 season following successful weekends in Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.

“It’s always great to be able to give back to the next generation,” she said at the clinic led by Melissa Pine, vice president of WTA Asia-Pacific and tournament director of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

“I hope to be able to inspire the children, and show them that anything is possible so long as you put your heart and mind to it.”

Yayuk is Jakarta’s hometown hero with an impressive on-court resume, one that features a run to the singles quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 1997 and a box set of Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances in doubles — including a semifinal finish at the 1993 US Open.

In the 20 years since reaching those heights, she remains the only Indonesian player to crack the top 50.

The 45-year-old said that the country really needed new stars to encourage rebuilding the sport.

“At the moment really we don’t have any — only one is ranked inside the Top 600,” said Yayuk, adding that she sees one or two young guns that are doing quite well on the ITF Junior Circuit. “Hopefully we will have a better future for the girls in the next coming years.”

A trailblazer for Indonesian tennis, Yayuk took charge of a fledgling national career and quickly burst onto the international scene.

“In my time, no one ever thought an Indonesian player could do well as a professional. I had been playing for my country, for the flag, for so many years — for Fed Cup, the Asian Games or the Olympics. I was thinking, ‘I don’t want to just play for my country, I want to turn pro’. Within six months of doing that, I was top 50. I stayed up there until I reached my highest ranking of top 20.”

Retiring from singles at the start of the new millennium — after having won six WTA titles — Yayuk was eager to offer advice to the next generation of Indonesian stars. She became a WTA mentor to Angelique Widjaja, who defeated future number one Dinara Safina to win the first of two junior Grand Slam titles in 2001.

Angelique appeared on course to match — even surpass — what Yayuk had achieved in her first two years on the WTA tour, rocketing up to singles number 55 and number 15 in doubles, where she reached four Grand Slam quarterfinals. But injuries and burnout took their toll and Angelique was gone from the game by 2008.

“I’ve tried to encourage her to come back and to play some — even if it was just doubles — but she says she doesn’t have the motivation anymore and that’s such a pity.”

Undaunted by the setback, Yayuk sought to grow the game herself by returning to tennis at nearly 40 years of age, playing doubles on the ITF Circuit.

The comeback might not have yielded the result she wanted, but it made her realize she needed to do something even bigger to change the way her country viewed professional sport.

Returning to Indonesia after coaching in Hong Kong, Yayuk was encouraged to run for political office in 2013. Within a year, she was in the House of Representatives working to reform sport and education.

Between her political endeavors and the growing initiatives spearheaded by WTA Future Stars, Yayuk is optimistic about the state of the sport — not only in her country, but also throughout the region.

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