Earlier this summer, Kelvin Lam was a member of the ITF/Asian 14U Team that went on a five-week European Tour involving ETA-sanctioned tournaments spread across France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. Other notables that took part in some of these events include Europe's top three-ranked 14U players – Evgeny Karlovskiy (RUS), Julien Cagnina (BEL), and Liam Broady (GBR).

His selection to the Touring Team owed, to a large extent, to his third place showing at ITF 14U Asian Championships 2008 – Group 1 earlier this year in Jakarta, in addition to his performance at the World Junior Tennis Asia/Oceania Qualifying in Shenzhen where he led the territory's 14U team to a joint-5th place finish together with Chinese Taipei.

After five events in Europe, Kelvin has picked up some 60 ETA ranking points and has attained a Tennis Europe 14U Ranking of No. 295 according to the latest release dated August 28.

"I thought it would be a tough time for me to be alone in the five weeks but actually, I was having a really great time there. I stayed with my team members for five weeks like my brothers and sisters. I also met a lot of friends from all parts of Europe and South America. Finally, I miss my teammates a lot!" said Kelvin Lam upon returning to Hong Kong.

"On court, I learnt how to become more professional (warm-up, cool down, etc). I spent five weeks on clay and it helped me to improve my shot selections and tactics and helped my game to become more creative because clay is a slow surface and you need to create opportunities for a winner by executing a game plan."

"And I was particularly impressed with the South American players from the COSAT Team. They can just play so well on clay, it's unbelievable."

"In the first week in the BNP Paribas Cup, I had a chance to team up with Mr. Kong Quan, Ambassadeur de Chine en France, to compete in the Senior Junior Ambassadors Tennis Cup. Unfortunately, we lost in the round robin stage," he added.

The Senior Junior Ambassadors Tennis Cup brings together the participation of various embassies stationed in Paris where the ambassador, or the representative from that country's embassy, joins the best player from their country in a friendly doubles competition.

Last year saw the involvement of the embassies from Britain and Northern Ireland, USA, Russia, New Zealand, Sweden, Italy, Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Canada, China, India, Morocco, and Senegal.

Prior to the opening tournament at the BNP Paribas Cup in Paris this year was the traditional three-day training camp, which took place at the Stade de la Marche Club. It was the perfect opportunity for coaches and players from all the different continents to get acquainted before they do battle on court for the following five weeks. Needless to say, it was the chance to get acclimatized to the slow red clay of Europe, as there exist no such courts of that specification in Hong Kong in recent memory.

Players on the 2008 Asian 14U Touring Team to Europe were: Digvijay Singh and Ronit Bisht (IND), Abduvoris Saitmukhamedov (UZB), Jeong Yong-Joo (KOR), Bakhtiyor Sadulloev (TJK), Kelvin Lam (HKG), Veena Doungkeaw and Budsarin Raktaengam (THA), Natasha Palha (IND), Nigina Abduraimova (UZB), and Nadya Syarifah (INA).

On the Asian 14U Touring Team's itinerary were a number of Category 1 and 2 ETA-sanctioned tournaments that went as follows:

Dates Tournaments
Jul 7-13 BNP Paribas Cup, France
Jul 14-20 Windmill Cup, Netherlands
Jul 21-26 Le 13/14 des Hauts-de-Seine, France
Jul 30-Aug 4 Rheinenergie Cup, Germany
Aug 6-11 Lapperre Young Champions Cup, Belgium

At the BNP Paribas Cup in Paris, Kelvin teamed up with Nadya Syarifah (INA) to reach the mixed doubles final before losing to the Latvia-Montenegro pairing of Lukas Mugevicius and Danka Kovinic, 6-2, 6-4.

However, the Hong Kong representative did not leave the Parisian capital empty-handed, as he managed to pick up the BNP Paribas Cup's Fair Play Award.

At the Windmill Cup, Kelvin went down against the in-form 11th-seeded Dutch, Moos Sporken, 6-1, 6-4, who went on to take the title. Sporken, who was the 15th-ranked under-14 player in Europe on July 14, has since surged past Evgeny Karlovskiy (RUS) to reach the top spot after having won the European 14U Junior Championships the week following the Windmill Cup.

In the doubles, he teamed up with Abduvoris Saitmukhamedov (UZB) to upset No. 2 seeds Evgeniy Akhmadeev and Lukas Mugevicius, 6-2, 6-0, in round two before bowing out to 8th-seeded eventual champions, Antonio Mastrelia/Michele Palma, of Italy in the quarterfinals.

The following week in Rueil-Malmaison, France, Kelvin teamed up with India's Ronit Bisht to upset No. 2 seeds Leandro Portmann and Juan Ignacio Galarza of Argentina, 6-3, 6-3, before falling to fifth-seeded Aussie WJT starting duo, Luke Saville and Jack Schipanski, in the semis.

Kelvin's singles game finally came alive at the last stop on this European Tour. At the Lapperre Young Champions Cup in Belgium, he knocked out No. 14 seed Christopher Pearce (GBR) in the opening round, 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-2, then took out local entry Arnaud Koutentakis, 6-2, 6-2, before getting halted in the quarters by No. 2 seed and eventual runner-up, Jeroen Vanneste, 6-4, 6-3.

Vanneste currently sits in 9th position on Tennis Europe's 14U Rankings List.

In 2007, there were a total of 20 ITF touring teams that consisted of 183 players from 75 different countries.

The flagship ITF Touring Teams are undoubtedly the ITF 18U Teams to Europe, which play a series of Grade 1 and Grade A events including the Roland Garros Junior Championships and The Junior Championships, Wimbledon, and another team to North America, which involves participation at the Canadian and US Open Junior Championships.

The last player from the territory to feature on the flagship ITF 18U International Junior A Team to Europe was none other than Venise Chan, who not only competed at Roland Garros (lost to 2006 ITF World Junior Champion Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in round 2) and Wimbledon during the summer of 2006, but also in time-honoured tournaments such as the Grade A Italian Open in Milan and the Grade 1 Astrid Bowl in Charleroi.

Current boys' world No. 1 Yang Tsung-Hua (TPE) and girls' world No. 4 Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (THA) were both members of the Asian 14U Touring Team to Europe in 2005.

In singles this year, Yang Tsung-Hua had already won at Roland Garros and was a finalist at the Australian Open. He also teamed up with compatriot Hsieh Cheng-Peng to win doubles titles at the Australian Open as well as Wimbledon.

Thailand's Noppawan Lertcheekarn, the reigning Asian and Asia/Oceania Closed Junior Champion, was a runner-up to Laura Robson at The Junior Championships, Wimbledon, earlier this summer.

Previously, players from Hong Kong who were members of the Asian 14U Touring Team to Europe include Justin To (2007), Ryan Cheung (2005), and Jack Hui (1999), who was then ranked third in Asia behind Taiwanese wunderkind, Wang Yeu-Tzuoo.

The ITF organizes international teams as well as regional teams from Africa, Asia, Caribbean/Central America, Pacific Oceania, Eastern Europe and South America. Criteria for player selection include results in international events and the age of the player (preference is given to younger players). Accordingly, the work rate, attitude and discipline record of the player is also taken into account and the ITF Development Officers and Directors of Regional Training Centres have input prior to the final selection of players.

In essence, the Asian 14U Touring Team to Europe offers a string of top class events on the Tennis Europe 14U Junior Circuit wherein young players from around the world could gauge their skills against the best young players from all over the world. Members of the ITF Touring Teams from South Africa, East Europe, Asia, and Africa & Central America/Caribbean had all been top performers in designated ITF regional events during the past twelve months (ITF Touring Teams explained).

Results
BNP Paribas Cup
Paris, France
July 7-13, 2008

BOYS' SINGLES

First Round
Gergely Madarasz (HUN) d. Kelvin Lam (HKG) 7-6(5) 2-6 6-4

BOYS' DOUBLES

First Round
(8)Pedro Dumont/Victor Pinheiro (BRA) d. Kelvin Lam/Jeong Yong-Joo (HKG/KOR) 6-4 6-2

MIXED DOUBLES

Second Round
(1)Kelvin Lam/Nadya Syarifah (HKG/INA) d. Plamen Mitev/Victoria Tomova (BUL) 4-2 4-2

Semifinals
(1)Kelvin Lam/Nadya Syarifah (HKG/INA) d. Jacek Jakubski/Paulina Czarnik (POL) 1-4 4-2 [10-8]

Final
Lukas Mugevicius/Danka Kovinic (LAT/MNE) d. (1)Kelvin Lam/Nadya Syarifah (HKG/INA) 6-2 6-4

Windmill Cup
Leeuwarden, Holland
July 14-20, 2008

BOYS' SINGLES

First Round
(11)Moos Sporken (NED) d. Kelvin Lam (HKG) 6-1 6-4

BOYS' DOUBLES

First Round
Kelvin Lam/Abduvoris Saitmukhamedov (HKG/UZB) d. Gregoire Barrere/Raphael Eitoun (FRA) 6-2 6-0

Second Round
Kelvin Lam/Abduvoris Saitmukhamedov (HKG/UZB) d. (2)Evgeniy Akhmadeev/Lukas Mugevicius (UKR/LTU) 6-2 6-0

Quarterfinals
(8)Antonio Mastrelia/Michele Palma (ITA) d. Kelvin Lam/Abduvoris Saitmukhamedov (HKG/UZB) 6-1 6-3

Le 13/14 des Hauts-de-Seine
Rueil-Malmaison, France
July 21-26, 2008

BOYS' SINGLES

First Round
Jonathan Kanar (FRA) d. Kelvin Lam (HKG) 6-3 6-0

BOYS' DOUBLES

Second Round
Kelvin Lam/Ronit Bisht (HKG/IND) d. (2)Leandro Portmann/Juan Ignacio Galarza (ARG) 6-3 6-3

Quarterfinals
Kelvin Lam/Ronit Bisht (HKG/IND) d. Matteo Donati/StefanoNapolitano (ITA) 6-3 3-6 [11-9]

Semifinals
(5)Luke Saville/Jack Schipanski (AUS) d. Kelvin Lam/Ronit Bisht (HKG/IND) 6-3 6-3

31st RheinEnergie Tennis Cup
Cologne, Germany
July 28-Aug 4, 2008

BOYS' SINGLES

First Round
Bernardo Bertolucci (BRA) d. Kelvin Lam (HKG) 6-2 6-3

BOYS' DOUBLES

First Round
Kelvin Lam/Ronit Bisht (HKG/IND) d. (6)Sergios Kyratzis/Plamen Mitev (CYP/BUL) 6-2 6-0

Second Round
Karim Hossam/Filip Peliwo (EGY/CAN) d. Kelvin Lam/Ronit Bisht (HKG/IND) 3-6 6-4 [10-5]

Lapperre Young Champions Cup
Hasselt, Belgium
August 6-12, 2008

BOYS' SINGLES

First Round
Kelvin Lam (HKG) d. (14)Christopher Pearce (GBR) 7-6(5) 3-6 6-2

Second Round
Kelvin Lam (HKG) d. Arnaud Koutentakis (BEL) 6-2 6-2

Quarterfinals
(2)Jeroen Vanneste (BEL) d. Kelvin Lam (HKG) 6-4 6-3

BOYS' DOUBLES

First Round
Kelvin Lam/Tunde (HKG/BEN) d. Lennard Keswani/Calvin Scholten (BEL/NED) 6-2 6-0

Second Round
(2)Joseph Van Dooren/Jeroen Vanneste (BEL) d. Kelvin Lam/Tunde (HKG/BEN) 3-6 6-1 [11-9]