Some of Jean Henri Lhuillier’s business philosophies came from playing tennis. “In business you have to have discipline. To get better, you have to keep wanting to learn. Understanding that there is a winner and a loser is also important. If you win, then good. If you lose, accept it and improve.”
Words CARLO PAMINTUAN | Photography PIA PUNO
Jean Henri Lhuillier stared at the crowd that gathered inside the Mall of Asia Arena for the Manila leg of the International Premier Tennis League’s (IPTL) maiden season.
“We’ve truly done something special here,” Mr. Lhuillier said to himself. Bringing in some of the biggest names in international tennis—including Andy Murray, Maria Sharapova, and Serena Williams—was something he had always dreamed of. Now they were here, playing in front of a raucous crowd of thousands.
Mr. Lhuillier, who co-owns the Philippine Mavericks with Hans Sy, Kevin Belmonte, Haresh Hiranand, and foreign partner Bela Swaminathan, could not have imagined just how big the impact of that day would eventually be.
In preparation for the upcoming second season of the IPTL, slated for this December, Mr. Lhuillier is juggling his myriad connections to tennis: he is Chairman of the Philippine Tennis Association, the head of the Cebuana Lhuillier Age-Group Tennis Circuit, team manager of the Philippines in the Davis Cup, player, coach, and father of four (two of whom play tennis). His calendar is booked solid, not even counting the minutiae of running the country’s biggest microfinance institution.
“It’s my passion. I’ve played tennis since I was very young and it has been a huge part of my life,” said Mr. Lhuillier in a conversation that took place in a private tennis court in Alabang Hills. Memorabilia he has collected over the years lines the top shelf of a small clubhouse: signed shoes from tennis stars Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick, Marat Safin, Juan Monaco, and Sam Querrey; various photographs of Lhuillier with top-ranked players; along with a broken and twisted racket, a victimof Roddick’s violent on-court temper.
“I started playing at the Manila Polo Club when I was younger,” Mr. Lhuillier shared. “I started playing tennis at a very young age and I did so with a large number of kids from different levels. It got me hooked at that young age because I saw how the older guys played and how they progressed. It became aspirational for the younger guys because we all wanted to be as good or even better than the older guys. It created the foundation for me.”
Tennis wasn’t Mr. Lhuillier’s first sport and it would not be his last either. After playing soccer when he was young, he ended up dabbling in basketball and baseball while in boarding school. But as he progressed, he realized that playing college-level basketball, baseball, or soccer wasn’t in the cards for him. He decided to go all-in on tennis.
“I was a walk-on,” Mr. Lhuillier admitted. “I joined a tournament, won it, and got a spot in the team.” He represented Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, California, for a couple of years before he decided to focus on his studies and see what other experiences college life could offer.
“It was tough to balance tennis with studies,” he went on. “My junior year, I gave it up because I really wanted to graduate in four years. I grew up in an all-boys boarding school, so going into a co-ed college, it takes you aback. I told myself I wanted to enjoy a little bit.”
After flying back to the Philippines in 1993, Mr. Lhuillier rekindled his love for tennis as he played in local professional tournaments and in some of the events he sponsored. Some of his basic business philosophies came from what he learned through playing tennis. “In business you have to have discipline. To get better, you have to keep wanting to learn. Understanding that there is a winner and a loser is also important. If you win, then good. If you lose, accept it and improve.”
ONE VS. TEAM
Tennis is usually seen as an individual sport. Whether in the men’s and women’s tour, it’s the singles matches that gets the lion’s share of attention. Doubles specialists, like the Bryan Brothers, don’t inspire the same adulation, no matter how legendary their achievements. Mr. Lhuillier is a rare bird in that respect since he enjoys being part of a team more.
“I enjoy doubles because it’s about strategy more than physical strength. You have to plan and help your partner. Working with people and being around a team is something I thrive on. I guess I like working with teammates and interacting with them. It’s something I enjoy.”
A tennis player with a good serve and crafty net skills, Lhuillier is not just a team player on the court. He’s one of the best teammates Philippine tennis has at the moment. While other business moguls have zeroed in on basketball, boxing, and volleyball, sports that receive mainstream media attention in the country, Mr. Lhuillier stuck it out with tennis even if the gratification wasn’t automatic.
Rubbing elbows with all-time greats may feel good for a while, but what keeps Mr. Lhuillier going is the success that Filipinos could achieve on the world stage. His man-cave reveals his soft spot for local players: signed posters, newspapers, and equipment from Filipino players share the same space as his other tennis memorabilia.
“I believe that tennis is one sport Filipinos can excel in and be at par with the world’s best. While physical attributes are of importance, tennis is mostly about mental toughness, grit, and strategy,” Mr. Lhuillier explained. “It is proven in tennis history that players under six feet may excel in the sport. You have Asian players in Michael Chang and Kei Nishikori, even our very own Felicisimo Ampon who, at five-feet tall, made the quarterfinals of Roland Garros twice.”
Mr. Lhuillier’s attack is two-pronged. Tennis needs local heroes, which is why Mr. Lhuillier is helping those who are already enjoying a measure of success win as many tournaments as possible. “Tennis needs someone like Manny Pacquiao for boxing, Efren Reyes for billiards, Jimmy Alapag for basketball, the Younghusbands for football, and Alyssa Valdez for volleyball. This is why I support the National Team, who are the current heroes of Philippine tennis.”
He also knows that ensuring the future of tennis lies in investing heavily in the grassroots. He institutionalized the Cebuana Lhuillier Age-Group Tennis Circuit, a series of nationwide tournaments for those 18 and below. Currently on its ninth year, it is an effort to scour the country for the best talent available. Mr. Lhuillier admitted that Philippine tennis has seen better days. “We used to be one of the stronger teams in Asia but recently we somehow slipped,” he lamented, adding that players who refuse to compete abroad and instead settle for whatever’s here are partly at fault.
The strides Philippine tennis made thanks to guys like Treat Huey and Cecil Mamiit, who have succeeded abroad, were compromised domestically by “a different breed of player”—the local pro satisfied with being a big a fish in a small pond. “We had a bunch of good players who didn’t go outside—or, who did, but not whole-heartedly,” said Mr. Lhuillier. “They were comfortable with just playing well here.”
Today, Mr. Lhuillier is optimistic since there are more young talents who are hungry to compete against the best. “It’s all about getting the new players who have a new mind-set: wanting to go out there, wanting to possibly fail, and then succeed after. The younger players now understand that you need that foreign exposure. You need to fail to succeed. They know it’s tough, they know what needs to be done,” he said. “Some of the guys who experienced failure before went back to their comfort zone—that’s changing.”
All Mr. Lhuillier asks from those that he’s able to help is to make sure that they remember that tennis is not the end-all and be-all. “I really feel that our goal in setting up this juniors circuit assisting all of these kids is really just to make sure that they get a college degree, whether they get it domestically or internationally,” he explained. “If you get a player in the top 500 in the world, that person will have an opportunity already to get a scholarship in the US. To create that special athlete to go pro takes a lot of effort and a lot of time, and my belief in tennis and what I’d like to do is for kids to use tennis as a tool to succeed in life.”
After years and years of investing, Mr. Lhuillier is finally seeing results. He’s particularly proud of Francis Casey “Niño” Alcantara, who played for Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, after winning the 2009 Australian Open Boys’ Doubles with Hsieh Cheng-peng.
“It was a fantastic feeling seeing him graduate last year,” said Mr. Lhuillier. “He sent photos of him walking and getting that diploma. He still wants to play tennis but he has a backup now because of his college degree. He can maybe play tennis for a couple of years and then get a job. He will get to contribute not just to tennis but to society as well as a real well-rounded individual.”
GRASSROOTS AND GLAMOUR
When the prospect of setting up a Philippine team for the IPTL was first mentioned to Mr. Lhuillier, he was iffy about it. The idea was broached to him only after political unrest in Thailand became a safety issue for organizers, leaving Lhuillier a mere six months to prepare for a major event, assuming he agreed. “I wondered how we could stage this world-class event in the Philippines with such a short lead time. With an event of that scale, you need the right partners,” he recalled. When the SM Group signed on, Mr. Lhuillier gained the confidence to do so as well. He now is a long-term partner of the league after signing a 10-year deal.
Mahesh Bhupati, IPTL founder and managing director, persuaded Mr. Lhuillier and the rest of the people involved of the league’s global reach. “He showed us what value we could create with a franchise, so in less than six months, we were able to form a group to get the IPTL out here,” Mr. Lhuillier continued. “IPTL brought in a lot of non-tennis fans because of the format. The new innovations attracted people. From a purely event standpoint, it’s a winner. From a dollar and cents situation, maybe in the third year, it will start to turn around.”
As in business, things as big as this take time to grow. Although the financial dividends may not be ready for harvest yet, Mr. Lhuillier feels that gains were made elsewhere. “I looked at it as a tool to promote tennis in the Philippines and to promote Philippine tennis as well. It brought that fire in kids’ eyes and even the adults who have stopped playing are getting back at it because of the IPTL,” Mr. Lhuillier said. “And on the other end, all of the players who were here, not only the ones who played for the Mavericks, said that the Philippines was the best. They liked the vibe, they liked the facilities, and they felt on the court that Filipinos really enjoyed tennis.”
Two of his kids have started playing tennis and the proud father wants his sons to play in a healthy tennis environment. “I’ve taken a back seat with them. If I was on top of them, they would have quit by now. Thank God, my wife [Bea Lucero, champion gymnast and Olympian taekwondo jin] was there to tell me to let the kids do their own thing. They’ve been able to grow and develop by themselves.”
Asked what the best-case scenario for the Philippines in the IPTL would be, Mr. Lhuillier paused before replying: “In ten years, the best that could happen is that we’ve won a few times as league champions. The IPTL is profitable and maybe we’ll have a homegrown Filipino in the top 50 representing the Philippine Mavericks.” And what if one of his sons ended up being part of the Mavericks? Mr. Lhuillier broke into a lopsided grin. “Oh, that would be a dream. Maybe. Maybe.”
