In Area Tennis, Advantage Diversity
Ethnically Based Community Groups Attract Young Players of Many Cultures To a Game With a Country Club Image

By Karin Brulliard
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 10, 2006

The lanky blond slammed a forehand to win the point, and spectators at the Legg Mason tennis tournament responded with low whistles and demure applause.

When his muscular, spiky-haired opponent won a point, a cadre of red-shirted fans did just about the opposite. From a corner of the bleachers at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center in Northwest Washington, they erupted in screams and slapped inflated "bam-bam" sticks together, sending a tinny drumbeat through the evening air, and generally went nuts over Thai player Paradorn Srichaphan.

"When I say P, you say Dorn!" someone shouted. The group obliged. Members of the boisterous crew at last week's second-round match were leaders and friends of the Fairfax-based Thai Tennis Organization in America, which over the past four years has burst onto the region's community tennis scene with fervor.

When Janine Underwood looks at the rowdy group in the bleachers, she sees more than fervent Srichaphan fans. She sees one of the nation's best illustrations of a goal that her employer, the United States Tennis Association, is shooting for. She sees more diversity in tennis, starting with grass-roots multicultural tennis groups, which are burgeoning in the region.

That's right, the Thais are not the only ones.

Out of their Montgomery Village home, Sonia Sekhar, 20, and her father run the Indian Tennis Association, which began as a social group and now hosts a yearly South Asian tennis tournament in Falls Church. The regionwide Filipino-American Tennis Organization boasts two men's league teams and hopes to start a youth program that combines lessons in tennis and Filipino culture. Fredericksburg resident Eben Donkor, 30, heads the Ghana Tennis Association-Abroad, whose primary activity is a tournament to raise money for a children's tournament in Ghana, though Donkor hopes to inspire his two daughters and other black children to pursue tennis careers.

"I see that if I set the example, it will turn more people into believers," Donkor said.

Venus and Serena Williams and James Blake, who are black, are among the top professional tennis players. But tennis, with its country club and dress code image, has long been dominated in the United States by players who are white and are richer and more likely to live in the suburbs than most Americans. According to USTA survey data for 2005, 87 percent of players nationwide were white, 10 percent were black and 2 percent were Asian. Thirteen percent identified themselves as Hispanic. More than 40 percent of players had household incomes above $75,000. One-third lived in suburbs.

Some attribute those demographics to the expense, particularly at the competitive level, which requires money for coaching and tournament fees. Others point to a lack of minority role models: Though their numbers are growing, few top professional players are Asian, black or Latino. Some immigrants note that the sport is not very popular in their countries, or it is out of reach.

"It's popular, but it's very high class," Annandale resident Hai Tran, 48, chairman of the USTA Mid-Atlantic Section's multicultural participation committee, said of tennis in his native Vietnam. "In Vietnam, it's going to be very hard to get the tennis court."

But the USTA says there is improvement in this country. Surveys in recent years have shown that about one-third of first-time players were minorities. To boost tennis playing among minorities, the USTA sponsors programs -- in June, it paired with the District's Latin American Youth Center to offer a three-week tennis camp to Latino middle-schoolers in Ward 4 -- and gives grants to community tennis associations.

"We're getting all of them to network," said Underwood, executive director of the USTA's Virginia District, which hired a production company to make a promotional video about the Thai group, "to kind of show the other community tennis associations what they can do. The possibilities are endless."

The Thai organization was created in 2002 over dinner among four longtime tennis players. Although they were giddy about Srichaphan's success, they lamented that other players from Thailand and other Asian countries -- including Thailand's Danai Udomchoke, now ranked 125th in the world -- had no sponsors and little money to travel to tournaments, recalled George Duangmanee, one of the group's founders.

"We just decided this is not right. We should be able to do something in a more organized way," said Duangmanee, who played for Thailand's national junior tennis team and the University of South Alabama. They solicited $10 donations to buy a plane ticket for Udomchoke, and the TTOA was born.

Soon, the organization decided to host a women's tournament. Needing a sponsor, they approached the maker of one of Thailand's most recognized products: Singha beer. The company accepted, with one condition, Duangmanee recalled: that the TTOA also host an event to showcase the beer and Thai culture.

"Suddenly now we become Asian festival organizers, which we had no idea how to do a couple of years ago," Duangmanee said. The first tournament and festival were in Ashburn in 2004. About 15,000 people attended this year's event, held last month in Reston.

In 2005, the TTOA persuaded Legg Mason organizers to add the women's tournament to its competition, which previously featured only men. It became the Legg Mason Women's Pro Circuit tournament. Now the group offers tennis clinics and youth scholarships and has spawned chapters in Los Angeles, Miami and New York.

"We have so much passion about it," said T. Sangkhavasi, 28, of Arlington.

It helps that they have a hero. Srichaphan, ranked 43rd in the world, is the top male Asian player and a superstar in his homeland.

"He's like Michael Jordan plus Tiger Woods plus all the big names combined," said Sangkhavasi, a TTOA founder.

Last week, about 30 people in red T-shirts watched Srichaphan play Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark. The group included Thai Embassy officials, Thai tennis enthusiasts and several non-Thais.

Most attended through a TTOA package deal that included discounted tickets and a free T-shirt but demanded certain behavior. According to the e-mail invitation, participants were to wear the T-shirt and "cheer loudly." Srichaphan's aces should be followed by three "very loud" cheers of "Para-dorn, boom boom."

"We try not to be obnoxious," said McLean resident Yoonhee Mun, smiling slyly and waving a yellow Singha fan. A native of Korea, she has played with Korean and Japanese groups but said the Thais -- and Srichaphan -- have her hooked.

A few days earlier, Chris Tran roamed nearby courts during a children's clinic he organized at the tournament.

"Rotate!" shouted Tran, founder of the Vietnamese-American Junior Tennis Association.

Tran, 44, organized the group in 1999 after seeing that his daughter, Christina, was usually the lone Vietnamese player at junior tournaments. He approached Vietnamese parents at the Annandale Sport and Health Club, where he taught tennis, and pitched the idea.

Now about 125 members practice at two sites; the group expanded to Regency Sport and Health Club in McLean last year. To keep it accessible, Tran charges most players about $10 an hour. Now, he said, Vietnamese youth players are common at junior tournaments.

The pro circuit is a different story. "It takes a lot of money and time to make you turn into a pro," Tran said. Many immigrant parents, he said, stress academics over sports, even if their children are excellent athletes.

Among the racket-toting youths at the clinic were Fairfax sisters Naomi Dan, 16, and Lauren Dan, 13, who joined the group when they were "about this high," Tran said, his hand at waist level.

"We were looking for a coach [and group] where we would have friends who were the same and we would get along with them," said Naomi, a member of W.T. Woodson High School's tennis team.

But do tennis groups centered on national identity encourage segregation?

Organizers and USTA officials say they do not think so. Hai Tran, who coaches tennis at Corpus Christi School in Falls Church, said tapping into existing community networks, often based on ethnic identity, is just a first step. "I first played with the Vietnamese Tennis Association," he said, referring to an adult group that is no longer active. "But then I branched out. I played on the mixed leagues . . . I coach a very mixed team."

Chris Tran said players are still a bit too separated. But he sees progress in his group. Today, only about half are of Vietnamese descent, down from about 90 percent at the beginning. On Friday, he hosted a "diversity day" at the tournament, offering free tickets to low-income children of all ethnicities.

He said he is considering changing his group's name to the Virginia Junior Tennis Association, though no one has asked him to.

"People don't really mind that it's called the Vietnamese Tennis Association. It's just tennis," Naomi said. And when it is not just tennis -- when it is time for, say, chowing down at a holiday party -- blending works just fine, the Dan sisters said.

"It's usually all Vietnamese food," Lauren said. "And pizza."