4 May 2022
Meet your match
We know for a fact that tennis, as historic as it is and as exciting as it can be, is one of the most popular sports across the globe. In the Philippine athletic scene, however, the well-loved racket sport only gained traction after Marissa Sanchez bagged the silver medal against Yolanda Sumarno in the SEA Games in the year 1977. Since then, the archipelago has been supporting tennis prodigies by investing in rigorous training sessions, and continues to hone the skills of the best players this generation has ever seen.
In fact, the Manila Polo Club works hard to grow the same talent to match up to local superstars such as, Felicisimo Ampon, Raymundo Deyro and Guillermo Hernandez, to name a few. While the world of sports has been opening up, and has been hosting a number of tournaments once again, we can see our homegrown athletes represent not only our country, but our MPC community as well.
Meet Andre Coyiuto and Migo Bartolome.
At four years old, Andre had already shown great interest in the world of tennis.
As he was eager to learn at such a young age, he made it a point to practice his skills here at the Manila Polo Club with his father, Alexander, twice a day.
He would take a whack at the ball starting six to nine in the morning, then ensure he had more playing time from three to five in the afternoon. He had always been determined to master his techniques.
It is no wonder he frequently joins competitions in and out of the country, bringing pride to his family and country.
Nine-year-old tennis star Miguel Bartolome, commonly known as Migo, shares the same love for the racket sport.
He frequents the Club for his personal training sessions and also makes sure to hold some friendly competition with his older brother Agustin to practice some more.
From 4:00 PM onwards, you can catch this young athlete busting it out on the court, showing off his impressive, world-class techniques.
Both Andre and Migo had their fair share of tournaments in the past, but it was about time they made a huge comeback after a long time since the pandemic struck. Both competed in the 2022 New PhilTA Age Group Tennis Tournament, Group 3, last 26 to 28 March in the PCA Tennis Courts in Paco, Manila. The tourney was hosted by The Philippine Tennis Association (PhilTA), which is the national governing body for tennis in the Philippines.
It is with great pride that we share the success of our two MPC aces, where Andre was a finalist in the 12 under boys category, while Migo was a finalist in the 10 under unisex green dot ball category. As these two young talents are just getting started, we all can’t wait to see what more they can do in the near future.