By Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enquirer

MASON - It's a story too far-fetched even for Hollywood. So let's set it in Thailand:

Man quits his job to groom his sons to become tennis players. He sends away for tennis manuals to learn the game, and installs a satellite dish to watch more matches. He has his sons watch tennis at the dinner table.

With his third and final son, he strikes gold. Son becomes the first Asian player in history to reach the top 10. He becomes a national hero, and Dad makes sure to catch every match on TV. Son sparks a tennis boom in his homeland.

How does the tale end? Paradorn Srichaphan doesn't know, but his story arrives this week at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters - Srichaphan's first visit here.

Srichaphan, 24, is up to a career-high No. 9 ranking and is a threat to win here; he won an ATP-best 40 matches on hard courts in 2002. His rise from No. 126 20 months ago has been meteoric.

"A couple years ago, my hope was to break into the top 50," Srichaphan said. "Top 10 is like, wow, amazing."

Thailand, with a population of 60 million, has never had a sports star of this magnitude.

Srichaphan has won more than $1.5 million in prize money, an enormous amount in a country where the average monthly salary for someone with a college education is $200.

A 2002 public opinion poll named him Thai of the Year. Late last year, he had an audience that included King Bhumibol Adulyadej. The king asked to keep the player's first pro trophy to show visiting dignitaries how proud he is.

The game has gone from a country-club pastime to the country's third-most popular sport, behind soccer and boxing. Racket manufacturers can't keep up with demand; the ATP has moved a tournament to Bangkok, and local TV covers virtually every Srichaphan match live.

"Two or three years ago, if you went out on the street and asked people about tennis, they wouldn't know what it was," Srichaphan said. "If you go now, they know 'Paradorn,' even taxi drivers."

Srichaphan often puts on a red shirt when he's closing out a match. In his country, the color signifies luck.

Sports fans might have heard of the tradition with another athlete of Thai descent - Tiger Woods. The golfer also often wears red shirts on Sundays.

Srichaphan's father, Chanachai, has seen the rewards of deciding to quit his job at age 35 to try to raise a tennis champion. Older sons Naratorn and Thanakorn gained ATP rankings and played Davis Cup, but neither was good enough to become full-time pros.

"That gave him experience before teaching me - learning from his mistakes," Srichaphan said. "It's amazing how well it worked out."

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E-mail nschmidt@enquirer.com