LONG-TIME tennis patron and Unified Tennis Philippines president Jean Henri Lhuillier expressed his optimism towards the PH Men’s Tennis Team’s chances of bagging medals in the upcoming Southeast Asian Games from May 5 to 17 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The Men’s Tennis Team is spearheaded by long-time Cebuana Lhuillier Tennis Ambassadors Ruben Gonzales and Francis Casey “Niño” Alcantara and will be ably backstopped by US-trained youngsters Jed Olivarez and Miko Eala.
“We have a very good team, a great combination of veteran players in Ruben and Niño as well as the young guns in Jed and Miko. I think the team is very capable of delivering medals, especially in the team event, as well as doubles, which is the specialty of both Ruben and Niño,” Lhuillier said.
Gonzales and Alcantara have been busy competing in international tournaments in the past months with the support of Lhuillier and are looking to be strong contenders in the doubles competition.
Alcantara is fresh from a finals stint in doubles competition in the Men’s 25 tournament in Jakarta, Indonesia, that improved his world doubles ranking to 297. Gonzales, on the other hand, is ranked 120th in doubles player in the world, coming from a strong quarterfinal stint in a very tough ATP tournament in Mexico.
“We are very confident coming into the SEA Games competitions, as we have been competing in strong international tournaments since last year, thanks to Jean Henri Lhuillier and Cebuana Lhuillier. We will give our best to win a medal, hopefully the gold,” said Alcantara.
“Our chances are good given the international exposure we have had for several months already. Thanks to our boss, Jean Henri Lhuillier, we were able to get as many matches tucked under our belt before the SEA Games.
