MANILA—Davis Cup rookie Jeson Patrombon and Marc Reyes Wednesday flew to the United States to sharpen their skills in five Futures tournaments in Illinois and Mexico.
Patrombon, who will also compete in the US Open later next month in his last juniors stint, and Fil-Italian Reyes, will see action in two men’s $10,000 events, and three $10,000 tournaments in Mexico in a bid to gain more ranking points in the professional circuit.
At present, the 18-year-old Patrombon, who is also slated to represent the country in the Indonesia Southeast Asian Games, is at 1320th in the world. Reyes, the 2009 Philippine Columbian Association men’s singles runner-up, is looking for his first ATP points and ranking.
Coach Manny Tecson admitted that the two will face a tough schedule that will take them through 128-man qualifying rounds where only eight players advance to the main draw.
“What these mean to us in terms of our development is that for six weeks, we will be competing hard and grinding it out against very tough professional and college players in the United States week after week. This is definitely the environment I want for Jeson and Marc to get tougher mentally and physically,” said Tecson.
Tecson added the experience they will gain in the US will help them get used to an entirely different type of competition and atmosphere.
“Our main goal is to eventually compete in the main ATP Tour, and we don’t get it by just competing in one continent,” added Tecson.
Tecson added that Patrombon hopes to close his juniors’ career with a respectable finish in the year’s last grand slam event.
Patrombon managed to make the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and advanced to the second round in Wimbledon this year.