Mamiit vows to continue helping PH tennis squad

Philippine team standout Cecil Mamiit may have retired from the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour but he is far from giving up on Philippine tennis.

The Filipino-American, who brought excitement back to Philippine tennis when he played for the country in the 2005 Southeast Asian Games (SEAG), said he’s not that sure if he would soon retire.

“I don’t know yet. I’m still trying to figure out what is best for the team. Right now I have the SEAG coming. Anything could happen in the next three months,” said Mamiit, who will once again don the country’s colors this November in Indonesia for the 26th SEAG.

One thing for sure though is that Mamiit will not leave Philippine tennis altogether should he decide to retire.

“I definitely want to help. This is why I take the role as a team captain. This is why I sacrificed playing on the tour (ATP) because I wanted to help the team and continue its success,” Mamiit said.

The netter said that last year’s tough and close tie with Korea was a good experience, especially for the young local talents.

“I got a lot of experience and I’d like to share it,” Mamiit said.

According to Mamiit, he wants to help the team by being more hands-on, like going to the provinces, identifying talents and taking them to the US for training.

“I want to help the Philippine Davis Cup by getting the players proper help. I want to set up a program and tie it with my connections in the US. It’s just a question of me tapping certain people here (Philippines),” Mamiit said.

He said he would do this for the young talents because he was also given the same opportunity by Germany’s top tennister Boris Becker.

“Boris Becker brought me to Munich just to teach me how to hit the ball properly,” Mamiit said.