THE CRAZY GUY FROM KOREA
The Korean guy in the front row was losing control. It was 1991 and Beijing was the venue for the Asian Games. We were playing for at least a Mixed Doubles bronze medal and Thailand hadn’t won an Asian Games medal in tennis for almost 40 years! Personally, this was the biggest match of my tenure as Thai National Tennis Coach. The Thai team of Wittaya Samret and Orawan Thampensri were in a match with a typically tough Korean team. You can always count on Koreans to make it a battle. They are always in great shape physically, mentally very strong, and always 100% committed. I had encountered the Korean attitude in many events prior to this. Players from Korea could sometimes overstep the boundary of what was considered good sportsmanship. This didn’t make them any friends on the tennis circuit and I had even witnessed Korean coaches physically abusing players several times. I’m not sure whether or not the guy in t...