VietNamNet Bridge – Currently ranked 225th in the world junior rankings, Viet Nam's top tennis player Nguyen Hoang Thien has secured a spot at the 36th City of Florence International Tournament in Italy that starts today, April 20.


HTML clipboard A room with a view: Nguyen Hoang Thien is taking part at the International Tournament in Florence, Italy. (Photo: VNS)
The clay court grade two event will draw the world's leading young players including Slovakia's Lukas Lacko, Yaraslau Shyla of Belarus and Nik Razborsek of Slovenia.


"He favours hard courts, but I said he should try out other surfaces," said Thien's father Nguyen Ngoc Minh.


Thien said he would be competing in a series of events during his time in Europe in a bid to climb the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Juniors rankings.


Thien, who has climbed from 234th to 225th following eight wins and three losses in ITF tournaments this year, will compete in five more Grade 2 tournaments and two Grade 1 events organised by the ITF this season.


In February, the HCM City youngster won the doubles titles at the Malacca International U18 Junior Championship in Malaysia and the Tennis Central U18 ITF Summer Championship in New Zealand.


According to Thien's coaches, Tom Kindavong and Marcel Petit, the 16-year-old has enough skill and experience to play in higher tournaments where he would develop more from competing against tougher opposition.


Thien attended training courses in the US in 2005, just two years after he started playing tennis at the age of eight, and he hopes to break into the top 100 junior players in the world within the next two years.


Thien also became the first Vietnamese player to take part in the Australian Open U18 Tournament this year.


VietNamNet/Viet Nam News