Rolf began playing tennis in Hong Kong at the age of 8 and his interest in the game led him to enter Under 12 tennis events shortly thereafter. His tournament results earned him an invitation to join the Hong Kong National Junior Team at the age of 12. Training several times a week with the national team, Rolf progressed through the ranks to win Hong Kong national titles in singles and doubles in the Under 12, 14, 16 and 18 age groups. In 1985, he won the Asian Junior Doubles Championships, was a semi-finalist in the Wimbledon Junior Doubles and won ITF doubles events in Taipei, Manila and Pattaya - finishing with a year-end ITF junior world ranking of #15 in doubles and #96 in singles.
Rolf went on to play Division I tennis at Princeton University in the United States where he received awards for "Best Freshman Player (1986)," Most Valuable Player (1987)," "Ivy League Team Champions (1988)" and "Team Captain (1989)." After earning a BA degree in Economics, he returned to Hong Kong where he played Satellite and Challenger events as well as the Davis Cup. During 18 months as a full-time player, Rolf earned several ATP points, coached at the Hong Kong Country Club and assisted in securing sponsorship for and managing local junior tennis events. He also has five Hong Kong National Open Doubles titles to his credit.
Upon leaving the tennis circuit, Rolf worked for several years at a Hong Kong firm, Ryoden Sports, marketing tennis and golf products. In 1992, he traveled to London to earn a MBA degree from City University Business School. Returning to Hong Kong after completing his degree, he established a new sports services division at Ryoden Sports and later was appointed Marketing Manager at the Gary Player-designed Sand River Golf Club. The International Management Group (IMG) recruited Rolf for their Singapore office in mid-1995. IMG is widely recognized as the world's most successful sports management company and Rolf worked initially as Manager, Business Development and for his last three years as Director of Marketing for the club management division. At IMG he gained extensive regional experience in sports-related marketing, including membership program development, event management, creation of corporate identities, newsletters and promotional material, media relations, project planning and writing and presentation of business plans.
Having lived in Singapore since May 1995, Rolf became a Permanent Resident (PR) in January 1998 and more recently married a Singaporean, Shareen Khattar. In February 1999, he left IMG to establish Savitar Pte. Ltd. Focusing initially on tennis, Savitar has expanded to offer tennis instructional programs at four clubs and two international schools in Singapore. Savitar is also the Marketing Representative for the Asian Tennis Federation, the governing body for tennis in 41 Asian countries. More recently, Rolf partnered with Victor Wong to co-found SPORTSTEQ Pte Ltd in August 2000. SPORTSTEQ will pursue opportunities in tennis court construction and resurfacing as an Official Applicator for the world-renowned Plexipave brand as well as launch a full range of tennis court equipment for the Asian market.
Victor Wong combines strong engineering skills with a very personable, hands-on management style. His engineering studies began with a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from Ngee Ann Polytechnic in Singapore in 1976. Victor spent two and a half years as part of the Army Combat Engineers, reaching the rank of Corporal. He later moved to the United States where he achieved a B.S.c Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1984. Victor subsequently continued his education at Michigan Technological University where he earned a M.S.c in Engineering Mechanics in 1987. During this time several of his research papers were published in various American Engineering Journals.
Returning to Singapore in 1987, Victor was recruited by Black and Decker as an Advanced Manufacturing Engineer. In this role he was given overall responsibility for launching the manufacturing of a new production line including overall staff management and quality control. Victor moved to General Motors Singapore in 1990 and was introduced to the hi-tech processes involved in surface mount technology. Seeing an opening in the local market for customized machines and equipment, Victor started his own firm, Integrated Mechatronics Pte Ltd, in 1991. The company has over the years serviced many multinational and Singaporean clients requiring specialized engineering solutions for their automated processes and production lines.
Victor was introduced to tennis in 1991 and quickly became very attached to the game. In 1995, a local distributor came to Victor with several broken ball machines that had been idle for months as no one could repair them. Never one to back down from an engineering challenge, Victor took them back to his workshop and soon had all the ball machines in working order. He remains the only source for ball machine repair in the Asian region and is an official distributor for Prince, Matchmate and SAM ball machines. Victor also developed an in-house manufacturing process for ball hoppers, court rollers and ball trolleys that he continues to develop.
Victor is married to Theresa and has two children, a daughter, Melanie, and a son, Mark, who is a nationally ranked junior tennis player. He recently partnered with Rolf Harrison to develop his tennis-related business and co-founded SPORTSTEQ Pte Ltd in August 2000.