KEY POINTS:
Kiwi No 1 Rubin Statham knows he will be under pressure when he takes to Centre Court in front of his home crowd at next week's Heineken Open - but it's nothing compared to what he went through as a youngster.
The 21-year-old has experienced more than most
his vintage should have to endure after he lost his grandfather, father and a brother to cancer by the time he was 13.
It means he takes a prosaic approach to his tennis career and life. "It was extremely unlucky but that's life," he says.
"It was very difficult to deal with at a young age because over about six years, three men of the family all had different cancers.
"It makes you stronger and I matured earlier than most kids. It's really now just my mum and brother [Oliver, who is also a professional tennis player]. More family means more support and more minds in the background to manage your career.
"My brother was very intelligent. He worked for Bill Gates running the Sydney office of Microsoft. It would have been invaluable to have that behind me in my tennis career."
It's a career that is still very much in its infancy and he is unheralded in this country.
In fact, at a time of the year when sports quizzes and trivial pursuits are a favourite pastime, it wouldn't be a surprise if most people couldn't name Statham if asked to name New Zealand's No 1 men's tennis player.
Some might say Dan King-Turner, others might mention Mark Nielsen while many more might stare blankly at the questioner and offer a polite pass such is the dearth of success of men's tennis over the past decade.
Statham slots in at 414 in the world, 50 spots ahead of King-Turner who has slipped more than 150 places over the past 12 months.
King-Turner's slide means Statham is likely to be the only New Zealander in the main draw of next week's Heineken Open, having already been granted a wildcard.
He has actually had a decent couple of seasons by his standards, rising 150 places in the world rankings in 2008 on top of a gain of 300 places the previous year and he remains undefeated in Davis Cup.
But he's still a long way from the top end where tennis players make their name - and find themselves the subject of sports quizzes - and where Statham wants to be.
He would certainly like to see a few more digits in his earnings column, which amounted to a paltry US$20,591 (NZ$35,000) on tour last year and US$46,962 (NZ$81,000) since hitting the circuit three years ago.
The life of New Zealand's No 1 men's tennis player is hardly one of excess and extravagance, especially considering it's often said players need US$150,000 (NZ$258,000) a year just to meet costs.
"It's difficult," Statham admits. "You learn to live on not much but the problem is you learn to do things not very professionally.
"If I had been a top junior in the US like I was in New Zealand then I would have got a minimum of 10 wildcards a year into bigger tournaments but it's not the case in New Zealand. Here you get one wildcard a year, the Heineken Open, so it takes a lot longer to move up the rankings."
A win at next week's Heineken Open would help.
Last year he was given a wildcard but went down 6-4 6-4 to Spain's Albert Montanes, who was then ranked 45 in the world, in the first round.
It was his first ATP Tour event and his prizemoney of US$4,275 (NZ$7,300) was actually his biggest cheque of the year.
"Unfortunately I got sick before the tournament started so my preparation wasn't perfect," he says. "But I played a decent match.
"It was an invaluable experience to play in front of a big crowd and against a top-50 player. Even though I lost it set my year up and it was just good to be around top-50 players to see how they practice and analyse how they do.
"I'm looking forward to playing at the Heineken Open and I quite enjoy the pressure of it. It's part of tennis and if you can't cope with that then you're not going to be playing on Centre Court at places like the Rod Laver Arena [at the Australian Open]."
