the national sports leaders of today depend on, for international
representations.
THE WILLIE HERNANDEZ TENNIS ACADEMY (EST. 1980)
AT THE MANILA POLO CLUB
In January of 1980, the Willie Hernandez
Tennis Academy (WHAT) was founded by Willie Hernandez, Jr. With the support of then
President Fred Nasser of the Manila Polo Club and assisted by Francisco Aguinaldo, a
talented scholar-athlete himself, the WHAT became the country’s first tennis
institution which provided a comprehensive training program for the youth. The academy was
named after Willie’s father who was one of the country’s best and beloved sports
radio and television commentator that brought basketball to popular heights with his
valuable insights and thorough knowledge of sports in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
Willie Jr. (University of Arizona)
was a product of Elizalde’s youth programs and one of the elite few who participated
for his country in Wimbledon and U.S. Nationals at Forest Hills in the 1960'’.
Following the footsteps of Don Manolo, Willie, Jr. provided a program for the
country’s top junior players mostly funding them with his own resources. With his
masteful skills and sound technical and tactical view of the game, Willie, Jr. imbued
powerful fundamental principles to young athletes which included Cambel, Alina and Sison.
Beeyong Sison joined the ATP international tour in 1979 after his scholarship tenure in
the United States. In 1981 together with Swiss partner Markus Guenthardt, he reached the
doubles quarter finals of the French Open Championships in Paris and the round of
16’s in Wimbledon. Sison played against the top 20 players such as Stan Smith,
Guillermo Vilas of Argentina, Elliot Teltscher of the U.S. and won in singles play over
John Marks, Australian Open Finalist, Cliff Letcher, Australian Davis Cup player, Onny
Parun of New Zealand, Kevin Curren, Wimbledon Finalist, and Brazilian Davis Cupper Thomas
Koch. Sison was coached and managed by Willie, Jr. throughout his playing career. Later he
established the International Tennis School of Switzerland in Basel in 1989. Beeyong holds
the distinction of being the only Filipino to have competed professionally in the Grand
Slam events namely, U.S. Open, French, Australian and Wimbledon Championships since the
era of open tennis began in 1968.
The WHAT also helped promote the Philippines-Switzerland Goodwill Cup in 1981 which saw
foreign players in action again on local soil at the Manila Polo Club after an absence of
Davis Cup and international competitions for four years. The firendly competition was
graced and witnessed by no other t han Don Manolo Elizalde. He was already in his
eighties, as he saw his legacy assured of its continuity by one of his protegee.
Hernandez, Jr. was to be the esteemed patriarch’s last time to attend a high level
performing event. Don Manolo would pass away four years later of natural causes.
The Goodwill Cup was organized by a popular sportsman named Dante Silverio which
subsequently paved the way for a series of tournaments and exhibitions in the country.
Philippine junior players were exposed nationwide as they participated in the competition
together with accomplished players that belonged to the ATP’s top 50. The foreign
players included Zoltan Kuharsky of |
