Published on June 24, 2005

But Thai’s star shines a little brighter. When Danai Udomchoke arrives home on Saturday morning he will no longer be known as the tennis player who lives in the shadow of Paradorn Srichaphan and Tamarine Tanasugarn.

Despite his second round loss to big-serving Croat Mario Ancic on Wednesday night, the unheralded Danai captured the hearts of the fans and huge attention from the media after he pipped Stefan Koubeck of Austria in round one.

For more than two hours, he fought off a right leg injury to display impressive tennis to take a set from the 10th-seeded Ancic before losing in 7-6 (6-8) 3-6 6-3 6-3.

Danai, ranked just 161 in the world, became only the second Thai man in history after Paradorn to qualify for the main draw at All England in the open era. And when he progressed to the second round while Paradorn did not, the world realised a new tennis prodigy from Thailand had arrived on the scene.

At the moment, the 24-year-old Danai is overshadowing his more illustrious countryman and has been on the front pages of many newspapers. He said was prepared for a media onslaught, similar to what Paradorn experienced during his peak in 2002.

“I think I just have to be ready for that. I think I will have some rest to heal my leg for awhile, so there should not be any problem,’’ Danai told The Nation yesterday.

But no matter how big the reception waiting for him at home, Danai said he would maintain his ordinary and simple lifestyle even though more people will recognise him on the street.

“I will still be the same person. But I guess I might get more attention from people wherever I go,’’ said Danai whose confidence is sky high after matching it with Ancic, a semi-finalist at Wimbledon last year.

“Now I feel that I can play everybody. I might try to skip the challenge level and play more ATP events now,’’ said Danai who yesterday had his right leg scanned.

It was this injury that took the edge off his game against Ancic, who claimed a title on grass in the Netherlands less than a week ago. The Thai had set point against the Croat at 6-5 in the tie-break but lost after a double fault.

“If I feel sorry [in any way], it would be for giving him that first set. I could have shaken his confidence should I have taken that set,’’ the Thai said.

“I played very well even though my leg hurts. I could have played even better if I’d had no injury.” Danai sustained the injury during his match with Koubeck on Monday.

Danai applied superb returns and passing shots to break Ancic’s service game and win the 35-minute second set 6-3. But his injury was aggravated in the third set and before long he was trailing the towering Croat 0-5.

Danai called for a trainer and won three straight games before surrendering the set 3-6. The Thai was down an early break in the final set and had a chance to break back at 3-4. Ancic never made things easy for Danai, firing explosive serves and charging the net to dominate the rest of the match.

Danai will cancel his tour of Spain in order to rest at home. His next tournament will be the Davis Cup tie against Japan in Osaka next month.

Lerpong Amsa-ngiam

The Nation

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