INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines is ready to leave its Davis Cup woes behind with two homegrown teenaged sensations and a pair of United States-based players with Filipino lineage expected to beef up the national team next year.

Philippine Amateur Tennis Association vice president for development Randy Villanueva said Francis Casey “Niño” Alcantara and Jason Patrombon have expressed willingness to don the national colors together with Filipino-Americans Treat Conrad Huey and Mark Clemente.

Fil-German Marc Sieber also expressed his intentions to play but he requires a bigger financial support from the Philta, Villanueva said.

Sieber is ranked 360th in the world in singles and 558th in doubles.

Alcantara, 16, is preparing for the Australian Open juniors under the tutelage of former Davis Cupper Junjun Toledo and Romy Chan. He is ranked 39th but is expected to move higher by year-end.

The 23-year-old Huey, born to a Filipina mother, is ranked 520th in the world in doubles.

The 15-year-old 5-foot-7 Patrombon hails from Iligan and is a product of the Tennis Academy of the Philippines. Now being handled by Davis Cup nonplaying skipper Manny Tecson, Patrombon won his first two international events, the ITF juniors in Sri Lanka and Singapore.

Clemente, 22, is from New Jersey.

“They are all prospects for the Laos Southeast Asian Games,” said Villanueva.

Cecil Mamiit won the men’s singles gold medal in the past two editions of the Southeast Asian Games.

Villanueva said the country will host an open championships to be funded by all tennis stakeholders in February.

The open event, to be held at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center, will be used to stir interest before the country embarks on its Group 2 of the Davis Cup Asia Oceania tie in Hong Kong from March 6 to 8.

“So far, sponsors are upbeat and are willing to support,” said Villanueva. “Maybe they can see that there are enough talents in tennis. But in order to get to world-class level, we need to spend for them.”

The RP Davis Cup team slipped to Group 2 after losing all its Group 1 ties to Japan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan this year.

“It’s frustrating but it’s a learning experience for the whole team,” added Villanueva.