Began playing at age four...Mother, Gisela, is German and a housewife; father, Awie (pronounced Arvie), is Indonesian and a chemist...Parents met at a German university in early 1970s...Has one sister, Aileen (two years younger)...His favorite soccer team 1. FC Koln is from Cologne and enjoys a variety of food such as Indonesian, Chinese (dim sum), Italian, Greek...At age 17, captured German national indoor junior championships and shortly after was invited with three other players to join Mercedes-Benz junior team...Now trains in Cologne with Austrian Alexander Peya...Considers quickness as his strength and best shot his crosscourt forehand (along with backhand down line)...Favorite surface is hard courts...Growing up he admired quickness of Michael Chang, groundstrokes of Andre Agassi and mental toughness of Boris Becker (used to practice with him).
