Jean-Julien Rojer (left) and Ryan Russell at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre during the Davis Cup clash between the Netherland Antilles and Jamaica which the former won 5-0 at the weekend . - photos by Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

Tym Glaser, Associate Editor - Sport

THE ROAD which leads the upper echelons of sporting success is long, hard and treacherous.

A very low percentage, in any athletic pursuit, make it to the end of path and fame and fortune.

For every Tiger Woods or Roger Federer there are thousands upon thousands of professional athletes who fail to stay the course.

The road steeples up and plummets down, it converges and diverges with others and ultimately there come the crossroads where you have to decide to march on against the odds or simply stop the slog, give up the dream and move on to other things.

Caribbean's best tennis players

At the Eric Bell Tennis Centre in Kingston last week the paths of two of the Caribbean's best tennis players over the past decade intersected again. One continues to chase the dream, the other quit the long haul a year and a half ago.

While Jean-Julien Rojer of the Netherland Antilles is trying to boost his world ranking of 295 to the mid-100s by the end of this year, which would put him on the brink of the coveted and lucrative ATP circuit, Jamaica's Ryan Russell does not a have a ranking any more and is seeking other avenues to fill the void left by a game which has dominated most of his life.

"That's a chapter of my life I closed a year and a half ago," Russell said of his professional hopes at the weekend after losing the Davis Cup doubles with partner Damion Johnson and ultimately the tie to Rojer and his Eastern Caribbean teammates.

"I had been doing it since I was 13, going through the grind and probably not the way I wanted to," Russell said. "Travelling on a budget with four or five guys in a room with hardlya coach is pretty tough. It just kind of wore me down and burned me out."

The feisty left-hander is not blessed with great size or a big weapon but tried to compensate for that with a huge heart and non-stop engine, but it simply wasn't enough.

"It's difficult to get past 400 or 500 in the world if you are not doing it the right way," said Russell who attained a career-high singles ranking of 503 in 2003.

"When you have tough times on the tour you should have a coach to be there and help you. When you are rooming with three or four other guys it is also tough because you may be in the semi-finals and they are out of the event so they just want to party.

"You are on a tight budget - it's extremely tough and all the guys who have succeeded have done it the right way," he said.

"I did it for 10 years and it was great, I don't regret anything but I'm working with a lot of kids in Montego Bay and I'm enjoying that a lot now.

"When I made the decision, I knew that I couldn't give 100 per cent day in and day out and I knew if I couldn't do that, I didn't want to be there any more. It was a difficult decision to make because I gave up a lot of schooling for it but it was absolutely the right decision."

Rojer, at 25, is two years older than his good friend, fellow travelling and doubles partner and sometimes court adversary, Russell, but, for him, the passion still burns bright.

Over the past 12 months he has battled an elbow injury while trying to boost his world ranking at numerous Challenger and Futures tournaments in countries like Mexico, Italy, Uzbekistan, France, England (Wimbledon qualifying - eliminated first round), Romania, Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Canada and the United States.

"The injury forced me to take some time off and helped me put some things in perspective and I'm just happy to be out there playing again," said the former player at UCLA, one of American sport's college powerhouses, who had a best ranking of 218 in 2005.

Schedule planned ahead

"I have a good schedule planned ahead, I am fit and playing well so hopefully I can get it back to the top 200s again," he said.

"I feel like it's time for me to make that push now because as your age increases you feel like you have less and less time to make that push, but it's a funny thing because as you get older you also start to appreciate things more.

"I enjoy my tennis a lot more than when I was younger. I took a lot of it for granted from travelling, to my friends, to winning matches and not giving it much thought, but everything is just a little bit nicer now.

"I haven't set any goals ranking- wise, but I know in my own mind that I want to be ranked around 150 by the end of the year. I do have strict scheduling as far as my calendar goes and that includes a lot of playing pretty close to home so the travelling is not that long," said the all-court player who is a huge Bob Marley fan and even wanted to put some dreads in his hair while here.

While the tour still beckons for Rojer, Russell is happy back in his hometown of Montego Bay training youngsters and he admits he does not plan to stray far from the game.

"I will always be here for Davis Cup, to play for Jamaica - as long as they need me," Russell said. "I also want to start some tennis academies in the Caribbean. I'm working closely with my father (Richard) trying to get one going in Montego Bay and, fingers crossed, that should be up by summer," he said.

"Then I want to expand throughout the Caribbean - maybe Barbados next or even another one in Jamaica. Hopefully, I will coach some kid to the top. I got somewhere and maybe I can get someone beyond me. If I could do that I would be very happy."

Rojer could also feature in those future plans as their paths will surely cross again.

"He's like a brother to me. I speak to him constantly, we travelled together since I was 12. He's struggling and it's really tough if you are not making a living on the tour and always losing. He says he's going to give it another year and a half to see if he can get his ranking up there but if doesn't start going up there - to the top 150 - he said he will come back and maybe we could do something together with the academies."