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Published on October 10, 2007

Their opponents' ball drifted, quite dramatically, beyond the baseline on match point, and Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana suddenly realised their moment had arrived. The near-capacity crowd at Impact Arena let loose a roar as the twin brothers launched into the air toward each other and bounced off one another's bellies, and then, as they embraced, gave the new Thailand Open doubles champions a standing ovation.

If you'd asked them a few years back about their chances, they would never have contemplated this moment. Nor would anybody else, apart from one man - Chatchai Ratiwatana, their coach, mentor, sponsor and father.

Back when the twins were still merely the new kids on the block, Chatchai gave up his administrative post at the Telephone Organisation of Thailand and a Bt60,000 salary and devoted himself to his sons' shared career. He traded away the stability built up over a lifetime and invested his Bt500,000 early-retirement pay-out in an invisible future.

"People said I was crazy to be playing Ducks and Drakes," says Chatchai, who also wielded a racquet in his youth. "But if we hadn't taken a chance we would probably never have found out what they could do."

What they could do, as we all know now, is turn into Thailand's "Amazing Twins".

"Dad has been our main sponsor from the beginning," says Sanchai, the younger of the brothers by four minutes. "Recently we've had other support, but we really depend on him."

For three years the twins chased the dream in small tournaments, but Lady Luck was always too quick for them, denying them even a single victory while debts continued to mount.

"We almost gave up," Sanchai admits. "We had to tighten our budget when we were on tour. We stayed in cheap places and lived on instant noodles and canned food."

They threw the dice one last time, selling a car to keep the chase going, and this time the tide was on their side. Two trophies in Romania, followed by wins in Jakarta, Colombo and Kaohsiung in Taiwan - and then the 2003 SEA Games gold medal - finally assured the family that they'd made the right decision after all.

"It was a big turnaround for us," Sonchat says. "We ended that year with money in the bank for the first time."

The trophies began piling up on the Challenger circuit, the testing ground for the pro tour. The brothers stepped up to the top tournaments on occasion, beginning with the ATP tournament in Beijing three years ago. Only this past July, however, did they get anywhere, though the results were abruptly impressive - back-to-back semi-finals in the US, in Los Angeles and Newport, Rhode Island.

And with the Thailand Open victory last month, they entered the history books as the first Thais to win a doubles title in the big leagues, the Association of Tennis Professionals tour.

 Unlike the country's original tennis hero Paradorn Srichaphan, whose fame and success came suddenly, the Ratiwatana siblings have had to wait eight long years for their breakthrough. The explanation, they say, is that Paradorn's accomplishment was based purely on his skill, whereas theirs is the result of perseverance.

"We can't be compared to Paradorn because he's a talented player and has far more potential," Sonchat says. "We, on the other hand, have had to pick up experience bit by bit and keep practising to get better."

Cheered on in the Bangkok final by 8,000 enthusiastic fans, the brothers battled against the odds to upset Michael Llorda and Nicolas Mahut of France - Llorda the reigning Wimbledon doubles champion and Mahut a US Open doubles semi-finalist three years ago.

Sonchat and Sanchai are now hoping the crucial win will not only boost their confidence but also promote doubles tennis, so often overshadowed by more star-studded singles match-ups.

"We're happy if we helped tennis regain some popularity," Sonchat says, referring to the tournament's near-collapse after the injury withdrawals of Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick and Novak Djokovic. "But let's hope that fans will pay more attention to the doubles from now on!"

They will, as they certainly did last month after the loss of the top three seeds left the singles final in the hands of relative unknowns Benjamin Becker and Dmitry Tursunov. That match was pallid in comparison to the excitement of the doubles showdown, the stadium - quiet all week long - at last in an uproar of cheering.

The twins have realised one dream. Next on the agenda is cracking the top 50 in the rankings, collecting more ATP victories and, of course, holding a Grand Slam trophy.

"It may sound impossible, but every tennis player dreams of winning a Grand Slam," says Sanchai.

First they need to burnish their game enough to arrive in the same league as world doubles champs like their idols, top-ranked Americans Bob and Mike Bryan, who are also twins.

"The main thing is to maintain our confidence and keep playing at this level," Sanchai says. "We need more matches with good players so that we can get used to the ball speed and tactics.

A foreign coach, he added, isn't required, at least for now.

"We've been coached by our dad from the start and we've come this far because of him. I see no point in making any changes."

The twins have garnered two SEA Games gold medals and a silver at the Asian Games in Doha last year, but they've yet to experience the Olympics. They're hoping to carry the Thai flag into the 2008 Games in Beijing.

Meanwhile they've got their SEA Games title to defend, coming up in Nakhon Ratchasima from December 6 to 16. With Sonchat ranked 71 and Sanchai 75 in the world, they're expected to hold all the aces going into the regional event.

"We don't want to put too much pressure on ourselves," says Sanchai, "but it looks like defending our gold medal is the only option now. Still, we never underestimate any other teams in this region."

Lerpong Amsa-ngiam

The Nation