IT all boils down to self-belief, said national coach S. Selvarajoo who has placed his faith in top national singles player Jawariah Noordin. Jawariah has performed well in several ITF circuits abroad and it is high time for Selvarajoo to raise her level of play.

JAWARIAH: Ready for the big league

She had a rough start in the US$10,000 (RM35,000) Jakarta tournament. Despite defeating Thai lass Siriporn Phakamad 6-1, 6-1 in Round 1, the Penangite was forced to retire in the next round against host player Sandy Gumulya (3-6, 6-0, retired).

Jawariah’s fortunes changed for the better in the US$10,000 Solo tournament. She first beat China’s Yang Pang 6-2, 6-0 in the first round and later beat fourth seeded Nungnadda Wannasuk of Thailand 7-6, 6-3 in the second. Ranked world No 960, Jawariah’s winning streak came to a premature end when she lost in the quarterfinals to fifth seeded Indonesian Lavinia Tananta 6-4, 6-2.

“I spoke to her over the phone and she believes she can perform even better,” said Selvarajoo. “Judging from her results, she’s able to play with some of the bigger names on the scene. In fact, her performance is on par with players in the 300 bracket and she knows that.”

Selvarajoo stressed that the only way for Jawariah to maintain a good position in the standings is by playing more tournaments.

“Jawariah needs more points and the only way she’ll get those points is by playing in more tournaments,” he added.

Jawariah is set to return home today and train throughout the week at the National Tennis Stadium at Jalan Duta before flying off to Thailand for three legs of US$10,000 tournaments (Aug 17–Sept 6).

“She’ll be playing throughout the fasting month as she’ll have another two (US$10,000) tournaments in India (Sept 14–27). “These tournaments are also good practice as she is set to play in the Laos Sea Games in December,” said Selvarajoo.