By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday January 3, 2024
China’s Juncheng Shang is one of six teenagers inside the ATP’s Top 200 and generally thought of as a rising talent that could be a future top player. The former junior No.1 is a talented ball striker who qualified for three of the four majors last year and even earned two impressive wins over Ben Shelton last summer.
At the Citi Open last year, where he eventually reached the round of 16, Shang became the first Chinese man to ever win a match at the ATP 500 event.
Shang has not produced a meteoric rise like fellow young guns Carlos Alcaraz (19, and ranked second) and Holger Rune (20 and ranked 8th), but the current World No.183 been growing steadily under the radar since he turned pro. He only won four matches at tour-level in 2023, but notched 29 across all levels.
In 2024, he has hit the ground running, notching two dramatic victories to reach his first ATP quarterfinal.
Shang, coached by Kei Nishikori’s former coach Dante Bottini, hails from Beijing but has spent much of his junior days at IMG Academy in Florida.
The soon to be 19-year-old (birthday: February 2) saved a pair of match points in the first round as he defeated 33rd-ranked Laslo Djere of Serbia, and on Wednesday in Hong Kong he saved another match point to get past talented Dane Botic Van de Zandschulp, 6-7(5), 7-6(2), 7-6(2).
Back-to-back top 50 wins to start a season? Not bad at all...
"My first ATP quarter-final, hopefully there's more to come,” Shang told the crowd in Hong Kong. “This is home, so it's extra special for me. I'm just super happy, with these amazing fans too and enjoying the moment."
Shang, who faced a match point with Van de Zandschulp leading 6-5 in set two, says that both wins deserve to be called the best of his career. He will face Frances Tiafoe in the quarterfinals.
Shang lost to Tiafoe in both of their previous meetings, at the Australian Open last January and at Washington, D.C last August. He has never won a set from the American.
The Beijing native is proud to be taking a page from the legends of the came with his Houdini theatrics, and sees his success this week as a direct product of his hard work and determination.
"You see all the great players, they have moments saving match points,” Shang said. “It’s a great value for me to never give up, that's how I want to play tennis into the future, to keep that attitude and to be myself.
Shang takes a philosophical approach to his tennis, and to life, seeing them as one and the same.
"I think it's from the build-up in this pre-season. I haven't always been this calm in important moments. On court time is only three hours and 32 minutes of the day, but you have 24 hours in the day. That just builds how you are as a person, not just in tennis, but in life too.”