Tennis: Brilliant Korean player Hyeon Chung is back

Hyeon Chung is No23 in the world.Photo / Getty Images

One of the brightest rising stars in men's tennis is returning to Auckland's ASB Classic this summer. Twenty two-year-old Korean Hyeon Chung is the latest signing, joining Wimbledon semifinalist and two-time former Auckland champion John Isner in the men's field. Chung made his debut in Auckland last summer where he reached the quarter-finals following on from his success in winning the inaugural ATP Next Gen Championships in Milan in November 2017.

While he impressed in Auckland with his speed around the court and ball striking, the world awoke to his talent at the Australian Open where he made a run through to a semifinal against Roger Federer after stunning world No4 Sascha Zverev, and six-time Melbourne Park champion Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals.

However, severe blisters forced him to retire during his semifinal against Federer but he continued his strong form through the early part of the season reaching the quarter-finals in Delray Beach, Acapulco, and the big Masters 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami and a semifinal in Munich.

Chung, who started the year ranked No58, climbed to a career high ATP ranking of 19 in April.

An ankle injury sidelined him just before the French Open and he missed both Roland Garros and Wimbledon, only returning to the tour in July after two months out, which makes his ranking of 23 even more impressive.

His story is a remarkable one. Born with poor eyesight, he only took up the sport as a youngster after doctors said he would benefit from focusing on the colour green. He was part of a junior programme funded by Samsung to develop tennis in Korea and as a junior his talent was obvious as he reached the Wimbledon final in 2013. Following his breakthrough win at the Next Gen finals in Milan last year, Chung's management team at IMG brought South African Neville Godwin on board as coach. The former ATP tour pro had worked with Kevin Anderson for four years and helped him reach his first Grand Slam final at last year's US Open and is highly regarded on tour. Godwin could see Chung was an incredible defender, in the mould of Andy Murray and focused on developing his attack, and serve which was a clear weakness in his game.

"He wasn't serving at a high enough percentage in first serves. He needed to make one or two technical adjustments and he needed to get more balls in play and look to be more offensive, because the guys you play now are that good," Godwin told the ATP.

ASB Classic tournament director Karl Budge is thrilled to have secured the Korean for a second year.

"Chung has lived up to the hype and the high expectations after winning the inaugural Next Gen ATP Tour Finals last year. Not only did he have his spectacular run at the Australian Open, he continued that form throughout the biggest tour events of the year."

On his return to the tour from injury Chung reached the quarter-finals in Atlanta and Winston Salem before losing in the second round at the US Open.

Chung lost a couple of cracking three-set matches against Canadian youngsters Denis Shapovalov in Tokyo and Felix Auger-Aliassime in Chengdu. Both players are targets for the ASB Classic, with Shapovalov establishing himself as one of the most dangerous players in the sport, and Auger-Aliassime rated so highly, that Federer took him to Dubai last December to train with him ahead of the Australian Open.

Chung, meanwhile, has this week's ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Shanghai before finishing his season on the European indoor courts where he will hope to crack the top 20 again.