Mamiit only Filipino in Wimbledon doubles

Manila Southeast Asian Games men’s singles gold medalist Cecil Mamiit made the whole country proud by becoming the only Filipino and one of three Asian men to qualify for the men’s doubles main draw at the ongoing Wimbledon tennis championship.

Mamiit, the pride of Alaminos, Laguna, has been playing very aggressive tennis in the last few months particularly in doubles where this year he has won three titles in the tough $50,000 Challengers with different partners. These results gave him the chance to play in the 16-team qualifying and he made the main draw in partnership with American Kevin Kim by beating Rik De Voest of South Africa and Australian Davis Cupper Nathan Healy in the first round and then the SEA Games doubles champion, the Ratiwatana twins from Thailand in the final qualifying. The other Asians are Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi both from India.

In the first round of the men’s doubles, Mamiit and Kim will play Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina and Luis Horna of Peru.

"This is a great honor for us and we are proud of Cecil, who will be playing his first Davis Cup in a few weeks time at the Manila Polo Club for the Philippines," said Manuel Misa, president of Philippine Tennis Association.

The Philippines will host the eight-nation Group 3 Davis Cup Asia/Oceania tie at the Manila Polo Club indoor courts, July 19-23. Besides Cecil Mamiit, the other members of the team would be Eric Taino, Patrick John Tierro and Johnny Arcilla with Martin Misa as coach and former Davis Cupper Roland So as non-playing team captain. They will play against Bangladesh, Bahrain, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.