Srichaphan?s priority is to get back into top-20

Chennai: Paradorn Srichaphan has just had his toughest season since catapulting into the big league three years ago. Having finished the year as world No. 27, he quickly took a remedial measure: hired a new coach.

This is not a routine coach-changing story. Starting from his first lessons at the age of six till last month, the only person who lectured Paradorn on tennis was his father Chanachai. But that changed last month when the Thai star started working with American T.J. Middleton.

?This is the first time in 10-15 years that I have come to a tournament with a coach other than my dad,? Srichaphan revealed on Monday. ?It was a conscious decision we took after a lot of discussion. Dad will still come to some big tournaments like the Grand Slams. Otherwise, TJ will be travelling with me on Tour.?

Just to make sure no one got the impression that he had sacked his father, a la Jelena Dokic, Paradorn added: ?He?ll still advise me but having done a lot of travelling in the past decade or so, he wants to rest now.?

He has already had a one-month ?initiation? with Middleton, a former ATP Tour player with moderate results. ?We trained almost the whole of last month and I feel like I?m ready for the new season now.?

And how different is Middleton from his previous coach? ?A new coach will obviously bring in some fresh ideas? with my father the relationship was based on respect. With TJ around, I?ll be able to discuss a few more things freely. But my basic style will be the same.?

While admitting that he had a mediocre 2004, Paradorn thanked his stars for not having been worse off. ?It?s not easy to maintain a high level of tennis over a period of time. I had a few injury problems, it so easily could have been much worse than what I actually managed to do.?

Not one to set any big goals, Paradorn?s immediate target is to get back into the top-20. ?That will be the first step towards reaching the level I had attained two years ago. I don?t have too many points to defend for much of the year, so I am optimistic.?

Like the last three occasions (winner once and runner-up twice), the 25-year-old hopes to kick-start his year with another solid run in Chennai. ?I have always done well here, hopefully I will continue that good work.?

Srichaphan, though, is not predicting a repeat showdown with Carlos Moya in six days? time. ?I don?t believe in looking so far ahead? first let me win my first match (versus Christophe Rochus)??

Comfortable in the role of Asian tennis? torch-bearer, Paradorn is delighted to note some good progress being made of late by players from his continent. ?The Chinese girls winning the Olympic doubles was a great achievement? then there?s this boy from Chinese Taipei who?s playing here (Yen-Hsun Lu), he?s very promising though he is young,? observed the five-time ATP Tour winner.

Tsunami was inevitable to crop up and it did. ?I was in Pattaya training with TJ when this terrible thing happened. Some parts of my country were badly hit? It?s tough to come after a shock like that and play tennis. But the good thing is that the tournament is on and all the players are here.?