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New Stars

Tennis

Training and persisting from a young age

Although tennis athletes, Jack Wong and Janet Law, are still young at the tender ages of 16 and 17 respectively, they have been tested in hundreds of matches on behalf of Hong Kong and are ranked among the best of Hong Kong’s young players. The two started on the path of tennis very early in their lives and have had their moments of discouragement, but they always managed to persist and overcome the temptation to give up whenever they thought about their years of hard work as well as the support and encouragement of their parents.

Jack and Janet were both led into the world of tennis by their fathers when they were three and four years-old respectively. Jack joked that his father made him learn tennis because he was too mischievous and energetic when he was young; whereas Janet’s father enrolled her to receive tennis training from the Hong Kong Sports Institute. The two of them became regulars in small tennis tournaments and won first place numerous times. Their wins gave them more confidence in their talent and they launched their tennis careers.

Jack Wong (left)
Age : 16
New City Tennis Club

Janet Law (right)
Age : 17
New City Tennis Club

Excellence befitting of expectations

Jack and Janet started participating in International competitions as representatives of Hong Kong since they were 14 and 13 years-old respectively and they won honors in many of these competitions. In 2012, Jack and his partner, Lawrence Lo, won the doubles title in the Asian Development Championships for the 14U division, and won the Gold medal for Boy’s Doubles in the International Children’s Games in the same year. In addition, Jack was also named as an outstanding young athlete in 2012 and 2014 by the Sports for Hope Foundation. Janet, on the other hand, played in international competitions such as the Asian Junior Tennis Championships and the ITF World Junior Tennis Competition, of which the most memorable to her was the ITF World Junior Tennis Championships (Asia and Oceania) last year. Janet trained every day with her partner before the competition in the hope of breaking into the quarterfinals. She lived up to her expectations and defeated an Indian player, ultimately placing seventh. Janet was very satisfied with this result and believed that her hard work was not in vain, and nor did she disappoint her parents or coach.

Biting the bullet and never giving up

Both Jack and Janet believe that the path of a tennis player is an arduous one, and that one would have thoughts of giving up every once in a while in the face of the tough training, but Janet would bite the bullet and persevere whenever she thought of the effort her parents had put into her development; whereas Jack said that although he had thought of putting down the racquet forever after losing in a competition, he would always return to the training grounds after thinking of the time and effort that he would have wasted if he gave up. With their perseverance and faith, these two athletes were able to move forward and make a place for themselves in the world of tennis.

Janet, who is in Secondary 6 this year, is faced with the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination this year and must cut down on her practice time. She hopes to return to the court after she is admitted into a university. She frankly admitted that it is quite difficult for a Hong Kong student-athlete to balance both academics and sports, so a tradeoff must be made. She also believed that the community doesn’t attach much importance to sports talent, so she hoped that Hong Kong can draw reference to the systems of other place and reserve university places for outstanding athletes. Jack has now become a full-time athlete and is receiving training at the Hong Kong Sports Institute. Jack and Janet unanimously expressed hopes that the government would continue to promote tennis to allow more people to learn about this wholesome exercise.