Dubai: Filipino tennis fans will be following the fortunes of Victoria Flores after she qualified for the main draw of the Wimbledon Junior Championships for the first time over the weekend.
The 18-year-old American of Filipino descent beat Chinese Taipei’s Joanna Garland 6-3, 6-3 on Thursday and Norway’s Malene Helgo 6-4, 7-5 on Friday, and will now face Poland’s Maja Chwalinska in Monday’s first round.
Although she flies the American flag as a native of Fort Dodge, Iowa, and attends Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia, both her parents, Manny and Mary Ann, are Filipino.
Flores has been playing tennis since the age of three, guided by her parents who are both tennis coaches in the US.
She shot to prominence last month by winning both singles and doubles titles on clay at Offenbach in Germany, and is now inside the top 50 of the International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) junior rankings (placed 48th, up from 426th at the start of the year). This has sparked hope that the Philippines could soon have another sports icon to look up to after boxing star Manny Pacquiao.
“[Being No.48 in the world] is insane, because at the end of last year, I was just happy to move from about 800 to 400,” Flores told Filipino TV network ABS-CBN recently.
However, should she reach Olympic level, she could be left torn over what country to represent, and whether to opt for American funding or Filipino pride.
“Every single time I play or every single time I go in court, I’m proud to represent the Philippines; even though I’m from America, I’m 100 per cent Filipino and, my parents, they always want me to be proud that I’m from there,” she added.
“I’m lucky to train and be in the US for tennis but I really hope when I’m older I get the opportunity to share my talent with tennis and inspire other Filipino players back home.”
Flores is also in the girls’ doubles main draw at Wimbledon alongside Chile’s Fernanda Labrana, and will meet Violet Apisah and Astrid Olsen in the first round.
She has already reached the main draw for September’s US Open junior championships and boasts 37 wins to 22 losses in singles and 38 wins to 18 losses in doubles.
