The Indonesian tennis squad has excelled at the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in the Philippines, showing their true capability by nailing three gold medals, exceeding their initial two-gold target.

On Saturday, the national squad grabbed an additional two gold medals from the women’s doubles and mixed doubles after Aldila Sutjiadi won the gold first for the country in the women’s singles event on Friday.

With Friday and Saturday’s successes, Indonesia was the dominating nation in the individual competition, leaving just the men’s singles and doubles golds to Vietnam and the Philippines, respectively. This year's Games did not feature a team competition.

However, the Red-and-White squad cannot enjoy the party for too long, as they are now faced with some tough tasks.

Finding backing from sponsors and seeking new talents are now the Indonesian Tennis Association's (PELTI) most pressing tasks, which must be immediately solved after the Philippines showdown.

During the tennis competition at the Games, duo Beatrice Gumulya and Jessy Rompies came out strong against Thailand’s senior-junior combination, Tamarine Tanasugarn and Peangtarn Plipuech, as they pressured their opponents into a 6-3, 6-3 win.

The 2018 Asian Gold medalists Christopher Rungkat and Aldila followed in their compatriots’ footsteps by winning against the Thai veterans Sanchai Ratiwatana and Tamarine. After ending the first with a 4-6 loss, Christopher and Aldila turned the situation around and managed to win 6-4 in the second set, forcing the match to be ended in a superb tiebreak.

The Indonesian duo put on a solid display in the tie break, closing with a 10-8 victory.

Commenting on the team’s achievement, PELTI chairman Rildo Ananda Anwar appreciated the hard work shown by all of the country’s tennis players. He appreciated their dedication in their intense training sessions ahead of the Games.

“We will continue our achievements. They need support to strive for better accomplishments. We will keep on trying to find sponsors on behalf of the players so they can continue practicing,” he said.

The Indonesian tennis team is struggling to find sponsors as most of the players are not in the top 100 in the world ranking. As of Saturday, only Christopher Rungkat had managed to penetrate the top 100 as he stood 96th in the doubles ranking according to the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

This year, Christopher played in three grand slams, namely the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.

Strong as ever: Indonesian tennis player Christopher Rungkat (left) and partner Aldila Sutjiadi celebrate their golden victory in the 2019 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games mixed doubles event in the Philippines on Saturday. (JP/Ramadani Saputra)

A lack of talent has influenced the quality of Indonesian tennis, especially in the men’s category that is still lagging behind the women’s squad.

The women’s squad now has Aldila, Beatrice and Jessy who have supported one another by pushing each other to their limit in the world ranking. Aldila is currently the country’s top player as she has got into the global top 400 women’s singles list. Meanwhile, in the doubles, each of the three has managed to break into the top 200 in the world.

Indonesia is also not having any difficulty finding new female talents as it now has Priska Madelyn Nugroho, who is showing considerable promise to be a future star.

Priska reached the quarterfinal round of the Wimbledon junior category this year and bagged bronze in the women’s singles at the Philippines Games.

In the men’s category, however, Indonesia is facing a huge gap between senior and junior players, especially with Christopher towering as the sole favorite men's player in the country.

Indonesia has been struggling to find new male talent that can compete at the international level, and a lack of domestic competitions has made this even more difficult.

Two Indonesian youngsters Ari Fahresi and M. Rifki Fitriadi, who played in the men’ singles at the 2019 SEA Games, were still overwhelmed by the region’s competitiveness as they exited the Philippines battle early in the second round.

Christopher said he was aware of the fact that Indonesia’s path to seek new male talent had been bumpy. He praised his female counterparts who had shown their best performance in general, and especially at the biennial event.

“The young men's players lack initiative to [compete in] the tour. They must be committed to themselves in order to achieve higher in their career,” he said.

“It must be hard in the beginning [without sponsors]. I experienced it myself as I started from zero. But I took [the difficulties] as a whip for me to move further to attract sponsors. The juniors must be more tenacious and I hope that the government could also lend a little help.

“Hopefully, the [2019] SEA Games gold medals can whip [the juniors] to aim higher,” he added.

While waiting for the best young ones to shine, Christopher shushed a rumor that he would immediately retire from national duty. In fact, he said “[I] will be ready anytime the team needs [me],” for any multisport event.

“I will do my best as long as I can,” he concluded.