Back in SEA Games fold, Singapore men’s tennis players eager to end 30-year medal drought

SINGAPORE – Come December, it will mark three decades since Singapore last won a SEA Games medal in men’s tennis.

It is a record the sport’s current national athletes know all too well.

After missing the Singapore National Olympic Council’s cut for the last two editions, the men’s team will have a chance to end the 30-year drought, having earned the nod for the Dec 9-20 Games in Thailand.

Buoyed by recent performances, the quintet of Michael Jimenez, Shaheed Alam, Jerall Yasin, Bill Chan and Daniel Abadia are determined to reach the podium.

They will be joined by the women’s team of Audrey Tong, Sophie Chua, Eva Marie Desvignes, Tan Sue Yan and Deanne Choo.

Tennis at the 2025 Games will comprise singles, doubles, team and mixed doubles.

National coach Daniel Heryanto recalled the men’s disappointment in 2023 when they found out that they were not selected for the biennial Games in Cambodia.

“Definitely they (the men’s team) were very disappointed,” said the 55-year-old. “SEA Games is a big thing and they were all looking forward to it.

“They are very, very motivated for the upcoming one because none of them have medalled in the SEA Games before and I am sure they want to get a medal this time to make Singaporeans very proud.”

The Republic’s last SEA Games men’s tennis medal – a team bronze – also came in Thailand, with Sherman Lim, Adrian Lam, Chen Chee Yen and Evan Woo reaching the podium in the 1995 edition in Chiang Mai.

Heryanto, a doubles gold medallist at the 1989 Games for Indonesia and now a Singapore permanent resident, pointed to recent competitions such as the July 11-20 Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group III in Vietnam as having boosted confidence within the ranks.

At the Hanaka Paris Ocean Park in northern Bac Ninh province, the men’s team lost 3-0 to Thailand, 2-1 to Saudi Arabia, but beat the hosts 3-0. They also defeated Jordan 2-1 in the fifth place play-off.

Heryanto added that besides the win over Vietnam – who were the men’s team silver medallists at the last Games – the performance against Thailand also showed that the gap with the region’s best is not too wide despite the Thais boasting players who are much higher in the world rankings.

Singapore’s Shaheed, who is ranked tied-1,996th on the ATP, went down 6-4, 6-2 to world No. 346 Kasidit Samrej – who competed as a wild card at the Australian Open in January and took former world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev to five sets – while Bill Chan (joint-1,667th) took it to the wire against 367th-ranked Maximus Jones, winning the first set 7-5 before going down 6-2, 7-6 (7-5).

The Republic’s players primarily compete on lower-tier International Tennis Federation events.

Noting that the team events will be Singapore’s best bet for a Games medal in Thailand, Heryanto added that how far the men and women progress will largely depend on the draw. He hopes the Republic can avoid Indonesia and Thailand in the early rounds.

Shaheed and Chan have been competitive despite the lack of tournaments in the past year.

Shaheed, 27, is pursuing a four-year degree in business administration at the Keiser University in Florida and has competed mainly in college competitions, while Chan, 19, is currently in national service.

The Thailand Games will be Shaheed’s fourth after previous outings in 2015, 2017 and 2019. He has dreamt of a Games medal since he joined the national set-up as a 16-year-old.

“Hopefully 2025 will be the year,” said Shaheed, currently in the US for the start of his final year in university. “It’s always been the biggest goal for me to win a medal for Singapore at the SEA Games. It’s the one thing that’s missing before I call it a day in this sport.

“We have a new team that is pretty young which means I’m the oldest now, so my role is to also guide the younger guys that are coming up. I hope we can achieve something together.”

While Shaheed plays mentor, Chan is hoping to make a splash on his Games debut.

He became the first Singaporean to make it to the Australian Open junior championships in 2024 and was part of the team who won the inaugural Singapore Tennis Invitational Cup at the Kallang Tennis Hub in February, alongside Jimenez, Abadia, Desvignes, Tong, Lynelle Lim and Chua.

The invitational event for four South-east Asian teams was held alongside the Jan 27-Feb 2 Singapore Tennis Open, a WTA 250 tournament.

“I’m really, really excited for my debut at the SEA Games and you can sense that the whole team is excited for December as well,” said Chan, who will further his studies at Harvard University in 2026 after he completes NS.

“We’ve been improving every year during our Davis Cup run. Last year, we managed to beat Indonesia, and this year, we managed to beat Vietnam.

“It is a case of building up our confidence and I feel like this year is one of our strongest chances because we are looking good against the SEA Games rivals. So I think we’re all really confident.”