Chinese tennis players have always been more famous for women, such as Peng Shuai and Li Na, two players who once held Grand Slams; In contrast, the performance of the men's players is not so bright, but recently there is a rising star in the men's singles of Chinese tennis, maybe you will continue to see his name in the media in the future, he is today's protagonist Shang Juncheng!
Born in 2005, Shang Juncheng, his father Shang Yi is a famous former professional footballer in China, not only the main player of the team, but also selected for the national team, but also the first Chinese player to play in Spain, and his mother Wu Na is a table tennis player who once won the mixed doubles world gold medal.
Born in such a sporty family, Shang Juncheng also inherited such genes and was an athlete since he was a child. He not only likes to play tennis, but also likes to run and golf, and even played his father's strong soccer, when the father hoped that his son could inherit the mantle and become a football player, but after Shang Juncheng was born, his father Shang Yi had two knives because of sports injuries, in order not to let his son suffer such injuries, so his father dismissed the idea of letting Shang Juncheng play football.
After Shang Juncheng began to learn tennis at the age of 5, he showed a good talent, not only inherited his father's Scud, but also his mother's gene of "mastering the ball". Shang Juncheng, who likes to "skip the level and fight monsters" at a young age, always challenges to play with older children, and compared with opponents, Shang Juncheng is smaller and his striking power is relatively weak, so he is almost defensive-oriented, although he often can't chase the ball at first, but as he trains for a long time, not only makes his ball skills better, but even the defensive range has expanded, and his defensive skills are now impeccable.
In order to become stronger, Shang Juncheng is different from ordinary children, he has been very self-disciplined since he was a child, not only rarely playing games, but even usually watching movies will choose the plot "helpful for thinking", showing a mature and stable personality. Relying on a calm personality and a solid defensive foundation, Shang Juncheng can always show a steady style of play in the game, and won the championship in the U12 national competition at the age of 10, and went to the United States Tennis Academy the following year to study, and has lived in the United States ever since.
In 2019, Shang won the Beijing branch of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Junior Tour, and also entered the prestigious IMG Academy in tennis, not only received a full scholarship, but also had the opportunity to practice with professional players such as Kei Nishikori and Dennis Shapovalov. After improving his skills, Shang Juncheng's junior rankings made great achievements in the 2021 season, first reaching the last eight at the French Open, then the last four at Wimbledon, and later winning a silver medal at the US Open.
In the second half of 2021, Shang Juncheng stepped into the professional arena with the title of "Junior Football King", although he was eliminated in the first round of the Miami Open, but then played a wave of 10-game winning streaks in the ITF's Fayetteville, and also successfully won the first championship after entering the adult category, and then won 2 consecutive circuit championships.
The following year, Shang Juncheng qualified for the Professional Tennis Federation (ATP) and qualified for the Indian Wells Open Qualifying Tournament, defeating Francisco Cerendoro, who was ranked 100th at the time, in the first round, it was the first ATP Tour victory of his career, but he did not expect that his opponent withdrew in the second round, and Shang Juncheng, who won without a fight, entered the ATP Masters for the first time, and the first time that a Chinese male player entered the non-local (Shanghai) Masters main tournament through the way of qualifiers. He is also the youngest player to reach the Masters in 2003 after Nadal.
Last year, Shang Juncheng's performance was not only that, he also passed all the way in the ATP's Lexington Challenge, defeated 4 players and reached the final, and finally defeated Emilio Gomez in the championship match by straight 2, which was not only Shang Juncheng's first Challenge Championship title, but also became the youngest Chinese male player to win the Challenger title, and also made his points soaring, ranking more than 100 players in an instant.
At the beginning of this year's season, Shang Juncheng started with a world rank of 194, he first faced the Australian Open, and his hands were hot, all the way from three consecutive wins in the side tournament to the main draw, becoming the sixth Chinese men's singles player in history to reach the main draw of a Grand Slam, and the youngest player at the Australian Open. Later, Shang Juncheng defeated the world-ranked 74th German player Oscar Ott in the first round, which was not only the first Grand Slam victory in Shang Juncheng's career, but also the first player in Chinese history to win the Australian Open main event, which shows that Shang Juncheng is menacing this time and is undoubtedly the biggest dark horse of the Australian Open!
Although Shang Cheng met American player Francis Thiafer in the second round, the surprise journey of the Australian Open came to an end. But now only 17 years old, he can have such results, which is quite impressive, and I believe that if Shang Juncheng continues to work hard, he can also become the hope of Chinese tennis men's singles in the future, and let more Asian faces be seen in the four Grand Slams.