When talking about doubles tennis in Thailand, no one is more famous and successful than the “Dynamic Twins” of Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana, who have made their names at a world-class level.
The pair have won the most titles and have earned more than $1 million (THB32 million) in their professional career.
But what’s even more interesting than their achievement is the journey they have been through together, from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs.
What was the duo’s journey like? What made them so diligent and eventually able to achieve their dreams? Find out with Main Stand.
Dynamic Twins
Although they’re considered the best players in the doubles category in Thailand, Sonchat (known as Ton) and Sanchai (known as Tong) didn’t start playing doubles from day one. Both of them had their dreams and wanted to prove their worth individually.
The twins grew up with tennis. Their father, Chatchai, was enamored with the sport, so much so that they had their knock board at home.
“We started playing tennis at around five years old,” Sonchat looked back. “Our father played before us. He was so serious that he even went for coaching. He never really forced us to play, though, he was just teaching us a little bit at home. Back then, we started by bouncing the balls at the knock board and catching it with only our hands until we got used to it. At first, there were no rackets whatsoever.”
It was not long until they both started competing in junior classes. Even then, the brothers made it to the top of the category and always brought trophies back home. They moved on to play in professional tournaments in 2004 when they were 22 years old.
At that time, Ton and Tong were still chasing their own goals. The former was able to reach the world’s top 650, while the latter made it to around 800 rankings. Back then, the doubles category was still not very popular in Thailand, as it was only available in big tournaments such as the Thailand Open. During that period, there were few opportunities for the twins to compete together.
Then came the day that their senior, Danai Udomchoke, encouraged them to compete in Dharwad, India, in what was their first Challenger program in a foreign country.
The ATP Challenger Tour is the second-largest tournament series in the tennis world. Prize rewards range from 30,000 to 168,000 U.S dollars (around 960,000 - 5,376,000 Thai Baht), consisting of 178 Programs in more than 40 countries worldwide. Moreover, the athletes who can reach high enough in the rankings will have a chance to play in the qualifiers for the ATP tour, making this a suitable place for tennis stars to take their first steps.
“When we first competed in India, we both intended on qualifying for the singles category but we both didn’t make it. So instead, we just tried our chances in the doubles and somehow we managed to win the championship. The prize was a lot too. Because of that victory, our rank went up from somewhere around 300 to top 250, so I was thinking maybe this way we might have more chance for the ATP Tour”
“Then we started to discuss with each other seriously because, at 200 rankings, we would be able to go straight to the bigger matches, meanwhile if we went alone we would have to go through qualifiers. To be honest, it was hard to make the decision at that time because we still couldn’t see many directions we could take. But eventually, we decided to pair up.”
Peak and trough
After fully committing to the doubles category, they went on their tour of the Championship in countries such as Brazil, France, India, Uzbekistan, the U.S.A, Japan, Italy, Switzerland, and Canada.
On top of that, they reached the second round of a Grand Slam at the 2006 Australian Open, before winning their first ATP tour at the 2007 Thailand Open. They followed that up with a win in the Chennai Open in India that same year, before snatching gold medals as the Thai National Team at the 2005 SEA Games and silver medals in the 2006 Asian Games.
“We had consecutively good results and by the year 2007, we were able to reach the world's top 50 with the victory from the Thailand Open. I considered this our highest point. So in 2008 we fully planned to compete in the ATP Tour in the United States because when we reach a certain ranking, we have to compete in the bigger matches. Playing in the small programs would lead to nothing.”
With their performances at their peak, they went to the United States high on confidence and planned to play in many tournaments as possible for the next two months.
The twins recorded excellent results, reaching the semi-final of the San Jose Tennis Tournament and winning the Regions Morgan Keegan Championship in Memphis. They eventually reached the world’s top 39 on 28 April 2008, the highest ranking any Thai player has ever achieved. They only needed a couple more victories to qualify for the 2008 Olympics Games in China.
“We already envisioned ourselves in the top 10,” Sonchat revealed, reflecting on the pair’s confidence back then.
However, their dreams never came to fruition, and the twins fell short in the most agonizing way possible. Despite their rapid rise in the ranking, it wasn’t enough for them to be able to compete in Indian Wells and Miami as they had hoped for.
“We were practicing there but were not able to compete. We could only watch the others because our cut-off rank was still only one short, and both programs are two-week-tournaments, so we haven’t played for five weeks in a row. At that time, we were supposed to contend for the championship. We were supposed to prosper but our momentum was stuttering. We were there in America and only practiced for a full month.”
Being unable to compete for months on end when they were at their peak performance affected them psychologically, and their ascent came to a grinding halt. When they started to compete again, it was the season for European clay courts, a surface they were unfamiliar with. Even though they have played in all four Grand Slams (the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and U.S Open), they didn’t manage to pass the first round.
“We only needed to win only one or two matches to go to the Olympics. Just any matches, not the tournament. However, our confidence was already burned out. We went from our highest point to losing in 14 tournament preliminaries. At the end of 2008, we dropped to 160 in the rankings and the Olympics were out of the question.”
The twins fight back
From being within touching distance of the top, their careers were dragged back to almost the bottom in a matter of weeks. Confronted with this crisis, the only thing that kept ‘Ton and Tong’ going was the belief and support of those who were closest to them.
“We practiced so hard and solely believed in the phrase “work hard will pay off”, only that we didn’t know when will that be,” Sonchat explained.
“For other people, an experience like this might be the point where they give up or even quit altogether. But we were lucky to have our family and our coach’s support. It was the only thing that brought back our confidence.”
“We knew that we had been to the top before and we believed we’ll be there once again. But it would never have happened without those who believed we would be able to go there again.”
They continued their hard work, and their mindset improved daily. Their form followed, and their ranking went up from 160 to 120. Eventually, their hard work did pay off.
They were back in the Challenger Tour again with magnificent results, as they made it to the finals of many tournaments, and won championships in Ecuador, Poland, Australia, Mexico, and South Korea.
Subsequently, in 2010 they reached the third round of the Wimbledon Tournament, their best Grand Slam result to this day, bringing them back into the top 100.
Nobody thought that the twins would be able to replicate their best era again. But destiny had given them one more chance to fulfill their dream, in the form of potential tickets to the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro.
The unexpected Olympics
“At that time, our ranking was around 110,” Sanchai reminisced. “They cut the quota at around 70-80, which was very far-fetched for us. We didn’t think we would even have a chance, so we planned to compete in China instead. One day, we received an email from ITF (International Tennis Federation), which informed us that we might get a chance to play in the Olympics if someone quits. They want our confirmation right away because it was less than two weeks before the opening ceremony.”
“We answered right then and there that if we can, we will” Sonchat added. He revealed that, after receiving the email, he couldn’t eat or sleep and got up in the middle of every night to check his inbox, right up to the last week before the opening ceremony. Eventually, he received what he’d been waiting for.
“One night I woke up around 4 or 5 in the morning to check my email and saw their confirmation. I suddenly woke my wife up and kept screaming, ‘Rio! Rio!’ She was so confused and thought it was some sort of a beer (Thailand’s famous beer is called LEO), so I clarified to her that I was going to the Olympics. Right then my heart was pounding.”
Many of the world’s best would participate in the Rio Olympics, including Thomas Berdych, Dominic Thiem, Nick Kyrgios, Simona Halep, Stanislas Wawrinka, and even Roger Federer.
Shockingly, Wawrinka and Federer decided not to compete in the doubles category for Switzerland, which opened the door for Sonchat and Sanchai.
They only had two days of preparation after they had received the confirmation. Everything was handled in haste, from their uniforms to their equipment, which Thailand’s Olympic Committee staff handed them at the airport. Their blazers had to be tailored and delivered to them across the globe, which arrived just in time before the open ceremonies.
This chaos also affected them in the match as well. They only had four days of one-hour practice sessions because their bodies could not undergo heavy training without proper adjustment. On top of that, their first match was against a duo from the host country, who was the third-highest rank in the tournament. Subsequently, they lost 0-6 and 6-7.
“Even though we lost, we are still very impressed. We had already given up, and maybe it was not our best Olympics but it was definitely the most satisfying one for us.”
A new dream
After 15 years of their professional tennis journey, Sonchat and Sanchai are now widely known as Thailand's most successful tennis duo.
They achieved a world ranking of 39 and broke the record of having the most championships in the Challenger Tour’s doubles category (a total of 46), amassing a total earnings of 500,000 U.S Dollars each (around THB16 million) in the process. Furthermore, the national team has six SEA Games gold medals and two gold, silver, and bronze medals from the Asian Games.
“Looking back to 2008, it was our best and worst year. We showed we were very strong because we faced rock bottom and managed to rise back up again,” Sonchat reflected.
“If you ask me if there were any mistakes along the way, both of us think that there’s only one thing, which was that we stayed together for too long. Until our last year, we still played together.”
“Looking back to the moment, we thought we could have changed things up a bit like playing separately for instance. We might have played individually for a season to harness new experiences and ideas. It might be good if we had done that, but now we do not regret anything.”
The twins now aim to use their experiences to benefit the next generation of Thai tennis players. Currently 40 years old, Ton and Tong have turned themselves into coaches to mentor the youth and prepare them to exceed their levels.
“Right now, this is our dream,” Sanchai concluded. “I want the new generations to reach that level. It’s the dream of everyone who preceded them, we want the Thai kids to go further. We have devoted our lives to tennis and will continue to do so. We hope to help the new generation achieve their dreams.”
