Weak eyes, big game
‘The Professor’ chases glory
CHUNG Hyeon took up tennis after a doctor recommended that peering at a green court would help his weak eyesight, and the bespectacled South Korean has never looked back.
He is now in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open after the biggest win of his career against 12-time grand slam winner Novak Djokovic.
Nicknamed “The Professor” due to his trademark thick white-rimmed glasses, the 21-year-old is in electric form, having dumped fourth seed Alexander Zverev out in the third round.
It has been a gradual buildup for Chung.
He won the 2015 ATP most improved player award, and signalled his intentions with a run to the semis in Munich last year before his big breakthrough at the Next Gen ATP finals in Milan in November.
Employing his trademark defensive speed and scything forehand, he upset top-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev for his first title and has carried the form into Melbourne after an off-season training in Bangkok.
He models his game on Djokovic – his idol – and did his best impersonation of the Serb to knock him out sensa- tionally on Monday night.
“I’m trying to copy Novak because he’s my idol,” he said, adding that he was keen to get a selfie with him after managing to get one with Rafael Nadal.
Chung is the first South Korean to reach the last eight of a Grand Slam as his meteoric rise gathers pace.
Chung meets another unheralded player, Aemerican Tennys Sandren on Rod Laver Arena this afternoon.
Meanwhile, Tomas Berdych has plenty of motivation ahead of his quarter-final meeting with Roger Federer tonight.
If four previous Open defeats at the hands of Federer haven’t fuelled Berdych, then surely a subtle sledge from the great Swiss will have.
Federer often credits his third-round rout of the big Czech last year for giving him the belief his tennis was back to the necessary level to challenge for grand slam spoils again after six months out nursing a knee injury. Until the 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 romp, Federer wasn’t convinced he was ready to contend.
But, fearing backlash from Berdych, the defending champion had to check himself after referring to the mauling in an on-court interview after his fourth-round win over Marton Fucsovics on Sunday. “We had a good match here. Well, I had a good match against him in the third round last year,” Federer said.
“I’m sure he wants to do it the other way around and make me pay for that one.”
Last year’s victory was not only Federer’s eighth over Berdych at the majors, but also his 18th anywhere, and he followed up with a 19th en route to a 19th grand slam triumph at Wimbledon.