Chung living the dream
HE’S already beaten his boyhood hero, added $880,000 in prizemoney to his bank balance and become front-page news in Korea – but for Hyeon Chung the best could still be to come.
The 21-year-old has an Australian Open semi-final against the Swiss master Roger Federer tonight with a grand slam title decider beckoning. The braces-wearing, bespec- tacled world No.58 nicknamed “The Professor” is winning hearts with his boyish innocence, speed, athleticism and freakish retrieval skills.
Chung has modelled his game on the man he eliminated in the fourth round – sixtime Open champion Novak Djokovic.
He said when he was young he would pretend to be Djokovic when playing against his older brother Hong, back then a mini Rafael Nadal.
Chung could have been missing from the Open had a few match points at last year’s Asian Games in Turkmenistan in September not gone his way. A gold medal with his partner, Yong-kyu Lim, meant they were exempt from South Korea’s mandatory 21-month military service – but the pair were nearly eliminated in the semi-finals.
Chung has already made history as the first Korean – male or female – to reach the semi-finals of a grand slam singles tournament, and through his progress will become the highest-ranked South Korean player in history, passing former world No.36 Hyung-taik Lee. He could go as high as No.10 if he wins the tournament.
With tennis rated as an emerging sport in Korea, Chung is set to have sponsors queuing up, with five already on board.
He hoped to inspire the next crop of Korean stars and push tennis on par with the most popular sports like bas- ketball, basketball and soccer. “I hope they busy, yeah,” Chung laughed when asked whether his agent would be busy post-tournament.
“I think all the people is watching Australian Open now because we make history in Korea.”
Chung said he wanted to follow in the footsteps of injured Japanese star Kei Nishikori, who was a career-high world No.4 last year.
“The first player is Kei Nishikori playing top 10 so we all Asian players looking for Kei and we trying to follow him,” Chung said. “He’s the pride of Asian players.”
While Chung is new to many fans, he’s been recognised as a rising star of the tennis world, winning last November’s inaugural NextGen Finals, for players aged 21 or under and ranked in the top 200. The Australian Open title is particularly special, saying it was the grand slam tournament he dreamt of winning as a kid.