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| Korea Tennis Association (KTA) President Kwak Yong-woon poses during an interview with The Korea Times at the KTA office in Seoul, Thursday. / Korea Times photo by Jhoo Dong-chan |
By Jhoo Dong-chan
The past several years have been satisfying for tennis fans in Korea.
Rising star Chung Hyeon qualified for the 2017 Next Generation ATP Finals in Milan and defeated Andrey Rublev to win the finals. He also became the first Korean to reach a Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open in the following year after defeating six-time Australian Open champion and former world number one Novak Djokovic.
While Chung has since remained in a years-long slump, another tennis prodigy has been emerging, keeping tennis fans taking interested in the sport.
Kwon Soon-woo, 23, pulled off a remarkable performance last year to be ranked 70th as of March 16, currently the highest-ranked Korean tennis player.
Inspired by their performances, Korea Tennis Association (KTA) President Kwak Yong-woon vowed to find the next Chung or Kwon and incubate them to help them compete with world-class tennis players in international championships.
"Korea lags behind Japan or China in terms of tennis infrastructure. To train junior-level players, we need more support and investment," Kwak said.
"It's essential for young players to experience world-level tournaments to improve their performances. At the same time, we should strengthen tennis infrastructure to discover talented young tennis players and train them."
In a bid to promote the popularity of tennis among children, Kwak said the KTA has promoted "red-ball tennis" mostly in elementary schools in metropolitan areas. Featuring slower balls, smaller courts and shorter rackets, red-ball tennis is popular with children in tennis powerhouse countries, Kwak said.
Tennis was the first sport in Korea that hosted a nationwide event after the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"(The COVID-19 pandemic) has affected everyone. Compared to other sports, however, tennis is relatively less affected by the virus because of its traits," Kwak said.
"Playing tennis requires two players to keep a distance in opposite sides. And it doesn't require them to have physical contact. This nature of the sport helps it remain less affected by COVID-19."
In June, the KTA organized the tennis tournament for high school students behind closed doors. It was the first nationwide sporting event held after the spread of the virus in Korea.
Kwak said the KTA hosted the tournament strictly following guidelines set by the government.
"An increasing number of people show interests in tennis. In my understanding, there are over 150 small private tennis academies in the metropolitan area. The number is increasing," he said.
Kwak was elected KTA president on July 30, 2016. Now that his tenure is ending, he seeks reelection as there is much to be done to make Korea's tennis infrastructure competitive.
"Before I took the helm, the KTA was heavily dependent on corporate donations and many KTA leaders were corporate leaders. When they left after their terms ended, the KTA faced financial difficulties. So the organization had to find another corporate leader who was willing to finance it," Kwak said.
"To make the KTA durable, I think it needs to be self-sufficient. Over the past four years in my term, I did my best to help the association become financially independent. Now we have no financial problems as we had in the past."
He said he wants to financially support more tennis coaches in Korea.
"These coaches have to spend their own money to get education abroad. It is essential for elite players to start early and get world-class coaching," he said. "I would like to help these coaches."
