7 make national team

Seven players have already secured spots on the CNMI National Tennis Team that will compete in the 2019 Pacific Games in Apia, Samoa this summer.

Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association official and long-time national coach Jeff Race said the Commonwealth’s women’s crew will be led by ITF World (junior) No. 127 Carol Lee, while other members of the squad are Tania Tan, Malika Miyawaki, and Isabel Heras. As for the men’s group, ITF World (pro) No. 65 Colin Sinclair will banner the team and will be joined by Robbie Schorr and Bobby Cruz. One more slot is left on the men’s squad and two junior players are battling for the remaining spot.

Among the seven players, the pressure to deliver medals for the CNMI from the Pacific Games falls on Sinclair’s shoulders, as he is the highest-ranked male player in the region. He has been competing in ITF World Tennis Tour since 2012 and has been successful in the previous two seasons. The 25-year-old’s recent victory was in the $15,000 Claremont Club Pro Classic in California in February this year, as he clinched the singles title of the hard court event. Then last month, Sinclair also saw action in Mildura, Australia and Shenzhen and Zhangliagang, China.

In the women’s division, the CNMI will be pinning its hopes on Lee, who is now in Europe to play in tournaments in Italy and Belgium. The 17-year-old will be competing in the 36th Torneo Bayer di Salsomaggiore in Parma, Italy this weekend. Last month, Lee trained at the International Tennis Federation/Confederation of African Tennis Regional Training Centre in Morocco and won her first tournament of the season after bagging the singles title in the ITF/CAT North African Circuit in Casablanca. She is the only Pacific Oceania junior player joining various tournaments in Morocco and Europe.

Lee will be reunited with Schorr at the ITF/Oceania Tennis Federation’s regional facility in Fiji this June, as the two CNMI bets prepare for the Pacific Games that will run from July 7 to 20.

The rest of the team will work with Race. Miyawaki and Tan played in some junior events this season and will participate in the Saipan-hosted ITF Juniors world ranking event next month, while Cruz also appeared in a couple of tournaments early this year. Cruz last represented the CNMI in tennis during the 2010 Micronesian Games in Palau where he won a bronze medal.

Meanwhile, Heras will be joining the on-island members of the team next month, as she will fly in from Utah. The 19-year-old is on her rookie year with the Dixie State University in the NCAA Division II and so far has a notable performance with the Trailblazers.

Heras won a singles match in Dixie State’s come-from-behind 4-3 victory over Colorado Mesa in the season finale last weekend. The freshman and the rest of the Trailblazers will play in the 2019 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championships in Grand Junction, Colorado this weekend.

Heras and her teammates on the national squad will be up against players from 16 other countries when the tennis competition takes place from July 9 to 19 at the Apia Park Tennis Courts.

Tennis will have the men’s and women’s singles, doubles and team events, and mixed doubles.