Hyeon Chung will not give up. The now 28 year old, former ATP no. 19, who was good enough to beat Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev at 2018 Australian Open, has been hampered by repeated injuries for the last five years but he keeps persevering.
The Korean powerhouse returned to competition in September and lost first round in Sapporo ITF $25,000 some guy named Koyama 57 16. Koyama had no ATP ranking.
Bloodied but unbowed, Chung played Takasaki $25,000 with no ranking himself and beat the the no. 1733 and 490 both in straight sets before falling in three sets 16 63 06 to the no. 296 Oliveira.
The two match wins by Chung got his ATP ranking back to 1447 and into Taipei Challenger. But Chung lost to Yasutaka Uchiyama in the first round 60 63. He also lost to Uchiyama in 2023 63 67 62. Chung beat Uchiyama in his first year of pro 2014 61 64.
The word on Chung from Korean tennis insiders is that he was not a rich kid and did not have the support team and budget to properly care for his body which started to break down from overtraining. The talent was certainly there but he was betrayed by his constantly breaking body.
In 2017 Chung won the NEXTGEN Finals by winning all five of his matches including two wins vs Rublev. His recurring back problems began in 2019 and 2020.
Chung may end up on the list of extraordinary talents who just did not have the body strength to withstand the physical grinding life of professional tennis singles, like Brian Baker, Christian Harrison, Jared Donaldson.
Australian Open · Hyeon Chung · Korea · Lacoste · Yonex
Steve · October 21, 2024 at 10:21 am
Maybe he can play Donaldson & the others you list for King of the Disappeared Players. Winner gets 6 million.
Scoop Malinowski · October 21, 2024 at 12:39 pm
The Surgery Cup, hopefully Turki Alalshikh will read this and produce it. Guga, Kei, Edmund, Janowicz could get invites.
Cory · October 21, 2024 at 7:32 pm
I have a sneaking suspicion we may see Donaldson again.
Scoop Malinowski · October 21, 2024 at 8:45 pm
Absolutely no chance. I saw Donaldson at US Open qualies and he looked out of shape. No limp though. Wearing an old Stanford t shirt. Looked more like a fan than a former top 50 pro.
Steve · October 22, 2024 at 9:06 am
Janowicz is a good for the list. He simply vanished.
“HOW MANY TIMES?!?!?”
Scoop Malinowski · October 22, 2024 at 10:51 am
Wimbledon semis and gimelstob said on live tv, “the sky is the limit for this guy.”