After picking up his first ATP point earlier this year and in doing so earning himself a world ranking, Victorian tennis player Omar Jasika (Clarinda) has sights set on a bigger and better 2013.<\/p>\n
Jasika has established himself as one of the best 15 year olds in the country and although he has many highlights in his young career, he says receiving an ATP point tops them all.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve wanted to get one for ages now and I played really well to get it,\u201d said Jasika.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got another 3 after that and I\u2019m just trying to get as many as I can to try get my ranking up \u2026 it feels pretty cool, to be called a professional tennis player.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jasika\u2019s four ATP points have him ranked No.1242 in the world, a notable achievement considering his young age.<\/p>\n
After picking up a racquet at the age of six, Jasika honed his skills by hitting against a brick wall and although he boasts an ITF Junior Ranking of 84, he acknowledges there is still plenty of work ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been working on everything (in training) but mostly my mind when I\u2019m on court,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been seeing a sports psychologist, trying to see what has been working for me on court and it\u2019s been working.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jasika\u2019s coach, Victorian National Academy Coach Craig Tyzzer, said the pair were looking to take Jasika\u2019s ranking into the ITF top 20 by the end of 2013.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are definitely looking at a pro career for Omar, he is currently the third best 15 year old in the world and with continued work and development we are hopeful of a very successful career,\u201d said Tyzzer.<\/p>\n
But he also added that there is still room for improvement in Jasika\u2019s game which they would address in the New Year.<\/p>\n
Looking to the future, left-handed Jasika said his long term aim was to reach number one in the world, while in 2013 he wants to spend time travelling and improving his ITF ranking.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am trying to get my ranking up so I can play all the Junior Grand Slams next year, that\u2019s my main goal,\u201d he said.\u201d<\/p>\n
Photo: Matt Johnson<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After picking up his first ATP point earlier this year and in doing so earning himself a world ranking, Victorian tennis player Omar Jasika (Clarinda) has sights set on a bigger and better 2013. Jasika has established himself as one of the best 15 year olds in the country and although he has many highlights […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5907,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5907"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9682\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}