PETALING JAYA: The Australian Open could prove to be a decisive tournament for Jimmy Wong-Cheng Su Yin as they fight to remain together as a mixed doubles pair.
Head coach Nova Widianto said the coaching team are assessing their options following Toh Ee Wei’s ACL injury, which could sideline her for an extended period.
As such, Jimmy and Su Yin’s performances in the Malaysian Masters, Singapore Open, Indonesian Open and this week’s Australian Open will play a key role in deciding whether they stay together as a pair.
“Whether we like it or not, we have to speed up the process because we still do not know how long Ee Wei will be out.
“We need to give Jimmy and Su Yin an opportunity first. At the moment, we have not decided to make them a permanent pair because we want to assess their performances across these four tournaments.
“If they can compete consistently at a higher level, then perhaps we can fast track them. If not, we still have other options.
“Jimmy could be paired with another player, and Su Yin could also be paired with someone else.
“So we will wait and see how they perform in these four major tournaments before making a decision on whether they are ready to move up,” said Nova.
Jimmy-Su Yin have only been paired together for less than two months since Jimmy returned to the national set up in April.
Despite not having secured a podium finish yet, Jimmy-Su Yin have shown plenty of promise after upsetting world No. 1 pair Feng Yanzhe-Huang Dongping at the Singapore Open two weeks ago.
Jimmy-Su Yin will begin their campaign in Sydney this week against home pair Andika Ramadiansyah-Nozomi Shimizu in the first round.
Meanwhile, Ee Wei’s regular partner Chen Tang Jie has been temporarily paired with Clarissa San and will compete in the Japan Open from July 14-19.
