He's already out of this year's U.S. Open, but Asian tennis player Paradorn Srichaphan's recent play has made him a bona fide star on the men's circuit and, more importantly, brought attention to the game in his native Thailand.

Srichaphan advanced through the first two rounds with ease at this year's final Grand Slam championship, but he faltered against Great Britain's Greg Rusedski, a big-serving former top 5 player, in a tight five-set match.

But that result, and Srichaphan's summer wins over stars such as Andre Agassi, catapulted the 23-year-old to stardom in Thailand, a country without many sports stars.

Srichaphan's summer began when he defeated Agassi at Wimbledon. He went on to reach the finals of the Legg Mason Classic in Washington, D.C. and won his first career title, defeating Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 in the TD Waterhouse Cup in New York.

Srichaphan became the first Asian player to win an ATP tournament since 1998 and with a world ranking of No. 29, he is the top-ranked Asian player on the men's tour.

As a child growing up in Bangkok, Srichaphan taught himself to play tennis by watching videos of stars such as Asian-American French Open champion Michael Chang. His father quit his job to coach his three sons. Srichaphan's two older brothers reached the top 10 on the junior circuit.

Although tennis is an individual sport, the importance of his success to his homeland is not lost on Srichaphan.

"I've won the title for the Thai people and the Asian people," he said at a press conference after winning the TD Waterhouse Cup.

The sport is 'getting bigger and bigger, especially right now. Especially when I'm doing well,' he said at a press conference at the U.S. Open. 'Every match for the last two weeks - I play semifinal in Washington and final in Long Island - was live on TV. People [were] following and exciting about it.'

Junior tennis players in Thailand face a tough decision ?should they try their luck on the competitive ATP tour or give up professional tennis to continue their studies. Srichaphan said his success is spurring some young players to consider playing with the big guys.

'I think I might give them some idea that, 'Try this way first, then try it for a couple years, two or three years. If [it doesn't] work, come back to school.' '