Vietnam’s top female tennis player Thuy Dung is on a long training course in the US to serve her target of entering the world’s top 400 players and taking the gold medal at the 25th SEA Games in Laos this December.

Thuy Dung (second from the right) and her friends at Extreme Academy, Florida.

In late 2008, Thuy Dung left Vietnam for the Extreme Academy for tennis in Florida, US. Dung chose Florida because she can participate in tennis tournaments of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) while she is studying there.

Such tournaments are organised on a weekly basis in Florida and Thuy Dung can join them without having to move far.

In mid March 2009, Thuy Dung will move to the Vic Braden Centre at St. George School in Utah. Her course will last for five months and Thuy Dung will return to Asia to take part in some tournaments of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the WTA to gain some more points to enter the world’s top 400 female tennis players. She currently ranks 659^th in the WTA rankings.

This is the fourth consecutive year Thuy Dung has attended a long training course abroad and the third in the US.

A day at the Extreme Academy in Florida starts from 9.30am to 12am. Dung has 1.30 hours for lunch and siesta then practices again from 1.30-3.30. From 4.30 to 5.30, she does physical exercise.

In 2008, Thuy Dung ranked first at the national tennis championship and the national star tennis tournament. However, the number one tennis player wasn’t satisfied with her achievement and she decided to go to the US for studying.

At Extreme Academy, she practices tennis with a female player who entered the final match of the Junior US Open 2008 and was ranked 280^th in the WTA ranking. This coach teaches several players at once. When Thuy Dung moves to the Vic Braden school, she will have her own coach.

Turning-point

Thuy Dung’s parents have three daughters but only Dung plays tennis professionally. When she was a little girl, Dung often went to the tennis court with her father. In the first three years playing tennis (12-14 years old), Thuy Dung only practiced tennis systematically during one summer month.

She was called for the national tennis team at the age of 15. After that, she began practicing tennis fulltime. But she was not a professional player yet.

The turning-point came when she was 19 when Thuy Dung won the first national championship and some prizes at international events, such as the championship at the SAT Open in Thailand, the double championship in Vietnam and the second position in WTA’s women’s doubles. Dung then decided to become a professional tennis player.

Thuy Dung said she likes drinking coffee when it is raining because “I don’t have to practice when it is rain. If I drink coffee when the weather is nice, I will criticise myself!”

“In over five years playing tennis professionally, I felt discouraged and wanted to quit sometimes. But I don’t want to be a loser who runs away from the present. Moreover, many people play high hopes on me. I can’t let them and myself down!” she said.

VietNamNet/TP