A tennis family with a difference
It is not often that a local tennis tournament garners much media attention in our country. Even the biggest tennis events staged here, the annual ITF International Junior Tennis Tournament, gets only a decent amount of coverage. However, this time the 30th edition of this tournament, which sees budding tennis players aged below 18 from across continents participate, has drawn quite a bit of attention even before the tournament got going. And that is not because the star value of this tournament has suddenly garnered, rather, due to the presence of a very 'resourceful' tennis family.
Katie LaFrance, the top-seeded female tennis player of the tournament, caught the attention of media way before the tournament started as she, along with her parents and coach, arrived in Dhaka on a chartered flight, just in time to make the pre-tournament press conference. Katie's father, Stephen, who deals in real estate, says it is business as usual for them.
“We accompany our daughter, who is our only child, to all the countries she plays,” Stephen told this reporter as Katie warmed up to take on India's Muskaan Ranjan in her first round match at the Ramna National Tennis Complex yesterday. “Before coming to Bangladesh, we were in Thailand and before that we were in Malaysia and Taipei. So just to make sure we avoid travel-related complicacies like flight delays or cancellations, we prefer to hire chartered flights when there are back to back tournaments.”
This time the tournament sees players from 12 different countries participating, and most of those youngsters from the overseas nations are accompanied by either one of their parents or coaches. And all of them are quite at ease with the security provided by the tournament hosts. However, for Katie's family, things are different. The 17-year-old's family is under constant guard by a couple of well-armed private security officials all through the day. Stephen tried to explain the context of the security arrangements.
“It is not about this country. If we're going to a country I'm familiar with, we don't take extra security. But if we're going to some place completely new, like in Bangladesh, we always ensure security this way. We have arranged such security when we were in Thailand and in Egypt, just to be sure,” said the Los Angeles native, who himself was once a tennis player of sorts. “My wife Wendy and I both used to play tennis, but we were more of recreational tennis players and never played at the level Katie is playing at. So we take pleasure in watching our daughter play at this level and try to make sure she is happy and be the best she can be. However we don't put any extra pressure by setting any specific targets for her.”
Katie herself seems to be taking a cue from her father's book, taking a calm yet meticulous approach to the game. The 17-year-old, who idolises Caroline Wozniacki and Roger Federer, wrapped up her first round tie in straight sets in around ninety minutes before meeting the reporters' demands.
“I want to take things one match at a time and play my best and see what happens,” she said. “But there are other things I take interest in, and travelling to places for tennis is certainly one of those. I'm enjoying my stay here very much as the people are very friendly, and I would certainly love to return with a good memory.”
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