KUALA LUMPUR: Promising tennis player Christian Didier Chin has put everything on the line to realise his dream of becoming a world beater.
The Sabahan, who quit school at the age of 14 to become a touring professional, recently received a slew of offers from prominent American universities but he has turned them down.
His father Christopher Chin, who is also his manager, said tennis will remain his sole focus in this crucial stage of his development.
Christian, 17, recently reached a career high of No 77 on the ITF world junior rankings which is the highest a Malaysian has achieved since Suresh Menon’s No 28 ranking over three decades ago.
"We have received a number of offers, but for Christian to take them up he would have to spend at least a year to complete his SAT examinations. This is because he has no transcripts as he has not gone to school here for the past three years," said Christopher today.
"Collegiate tennis is also not the ideal path for a tennis player who is looking to make it on the pro tour. You can see in the past that most of the top players in the world did not go this route."
Christopher added that quitting school was a difficult decision he made together with Christian, who has been forced to be independent from the onset.
"We made this decision together and there was a lot of objection from the (rest of the) family who wanted him to continue with school.
"We felt that he could still go back to school later if things do not work out.
"Christian has been able to achieve what he has today through the sacrifices he has made. It’s not easy juggling between studies and tennis, many who tried to do so have not been successful.
"I used to accompany him to tournaments abroad when he was 13 and 14 but he has been travelling all over the world on his own since he was 15. As we have been receiving less funding, he has been very independent."
Christian, who was named Player of The Year at LTAM's ACE Awards recently, will require roughly RM300,000 to compete on the junior tour, as well as a number of senior tournaments, next year.
Christopher is hoping to secure additional sponsorship to make it possible to hire a full time coach to travel with Christian, who trains with any coaches available based on his location.