CNMI is the favorite in tennis

This early, national tennis coach and CNMI Sports Hall of Famer Jeff Race is already expecting the CNMI to win a bumper crop of gold medals in next year’s Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games.

Aside from the obvious homecourt advantage and tremendous crowd support CNMI tennis players will expect, Race said the Commonwealth’s top players like Colin Sinclair, who is in the International Tennis Federation Men’s World Tennis Tour, and Carol Lee, Roby Schorr, and Isabel Herras, who are all playing college tennis, have only gotten better since the 2019 Mini Games in Apia, Samoa.

“With our players coming back we should be strong or stronger than the last Pacific Games. I think we have a great chance of winning gold medals. We will definitely be the favorites,” he said.

The Apia Mini Games saw Sinclair win the men’s gold before teaming up with Lee and Schorr and Ken Song to win the mixed doubles and men’s team gold, respectively.

Race said Lee and Herras have improved by leaps and bounds since the XVI Pacific Games and he won’t be surprised if one or even both of them medal in the Mini Games the CNMI will be hosting for the first time next year.

“We should win a medal in the women’s team. Samoa and Papua New Guinea had a super strong team last time out. Abigail Tere-Apisah, who was ranked 300 in the world at that time, I believe she just had a baby. She’s starting a family and I’m not sure she’s going to come. Steffi Carruthers, who won a silver medal, she’s gotten married. Since it was done in Samoa she was really training hard then and back in the world tour and even got a ranking of around 600 before Samoa. That’s not going to happen this time,” he said.

Race added there are other very strong women’s players in the region coming up like American Samoa’s Kalani Soli who’s played at Liberty University.

“But we will have to see who shows up. You’ll never know who comes out of the woodworks. I think for the most part, we generally know which teams in the Pacific [are contenders] and unless there are any big surprises I think we should be winning medals in the men’s and women’s tennis,” he said.

“Basically all our players coming back have significantly gotten better. Carol will be better than she was in 2019. Isabel was here last summer and she was playing fantastic,” he added.

Race said the CNMI’s men’s team should be the top seed in the Mini Games, considering that Sinclair is undoubtedly the No. 1 tennis player in Pacific Oceania.

“By estimating we won the men’s team in 2019 and the two players most instrumental in that win are coming back, we should also be favorites. I know Colin is very excited to come back and play for the CNMI. You’ve got Colin playing the pro tour week in and week out and then Roby, three years after the 2019 Mini Games, has only gotten better playing tennis. Same with Ken.”

Race said as far as the rest of the women’s team goes, it’s still up in the air who will make the cut.

“Tania [Tan] and Malika [Miyawaki] are not playing college tennis. They’re playing club tennis which means playing regularly but they’re not training. They’re good players and they both have competitive experience.”

The Mini Games training pool also has a smattering of youth with Hye Jin Eliott and Serin Chung hoping to make the team.

“Of the players I mentioned only two of them are juniors and that’s Hye Jin and Serin. They train with me at Crowne Plaza as part of our juniors program. Hope Asia [Raulerson] tries out I think she’s a very good addition to the team. Hye Jin and Serin are both solid players. You’ve seen them play against the boys 16 and under here and they’re doing very well.”

Raulerson currently plays the No. 1 position at NCAA Division II school Albany University.

The rest of the men’s training pool consists of Tony Atalig, Colin Ramsey, Bobby Cruz, Luther Lizama, and Morris Villanueva.