THE Philippine Davis Cup team's top backer is confident Fil-Am Treat Huey has what it takes to gain a slot in the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Olympics tennis competition.
Cebuana Lhuillier Davis Cup team patron Jean Henri Lhuillier expressed his optimism that Huey can still get a crack at the Olympics men’s doubles event following his showing this year where he rose to No. 30 in the world.
With six months to go before the Olympics, Huey is looking to get a crack at the Top 10 in the world rankings in doubles, and gain the right to bring in another Filipino player in the Olympics, possibly Ruben Gonzales and Francis Casey Alcantara, for the doubles competition.
Huey is about 2600 points behind No. 10 John Peers this week and mathematically, it can be overhauled.
With several 250 series events and one Masters 1000, in Monaco, about 2000 points can be gained in April if a player can rack up tournament wins week after week.
The month of May offers much more points and prize money, with the elite players battling it out in the Madrid and Italian Opens before the claycourt grand slam French Open.
“This is a once in a lifetime chance and I'm confident Treat will give it his best shot. It's going to be difficult but I believe that he has what it takes to make it happen. He has been playing very well this year,” Lhuillier said.
Huey has been putting up a respectable showing recently, winning an ATP tournament in Acapulco with Max Mirnyi. He also made it to the semifinals of the mixed doubles and quarterfinals in the men’s doubles of the 2016 Australian Open.
Recently, Huey led the Philippines to a first round win in the Davis Cup Asia/Oceania Group II tie against Kuwait.
Meanwhile, Lhuillier is also looking at an Olympic berth for softball in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics if the sport is included in the program. Lhuillier is the president of the Amateur Softball Association of the Philippines.
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