Chung Hyeon

For the baseball player with the same Korean name, see Jung Hyun.

In this Korean name, the family name is Chung.

Chung Hyeon (Korean: 정현; Hanja: 鄭泫; Korean pronunciation: [tɕəːŋ çʌn];^[1] born 19 May 1996) is a South Korean professional tennis player.^[2] He is the 2017 Next Gen Finals champion. As an unseeded player, he became the first Korean player to reach a Grand Slam semifinal at the 2018 Australian Open.

Hyeon Chung

Hyeon Chung at the 2018 Australian Open
Country (sports)	South Korea
Residence	Suwon, South Korea
Born	(1996-05-19) 19 May 1996 (age 28) Suwon, South Korea
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Turned pro	2014
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Coach	Neville Godwin
Prize money	US $3,735,389
Singles
Career record	86–69
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 19 (2 April 2018)
Current ranking	No. 1450 (30 September 2024)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	SF (2018)
French Open	3R (2017)
Wimbledon	1R (2015)
US Open	3R (2019)
Doubles
Career record	11–14
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 187 (11 April 2016)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	3R (2018)
French Open	1R (2017)
US Open	2R (2017)
Mixed doubles
Career record	0–1
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian Open	1R (2016)
Medal record Representing  South Korea Men's tennis Asian Games 2014 Incheon Men's doubles Universiade 2015 Gwangju Men's singles 2015 Gwangju Men's team
Last updated on: 16 October 2024.

Chung Hyeon
Hangul	정현
Hanja	鄭泫
Revised Romanization	Jeong Hyeon
McCune–Reischauer	Chŏng Hyŏn

Junior career

Chung took up tennis as a way to try to help maintain his eyesight after requiring glasses at a young age.^[3] He won the Eddie Herr International and Junior Orange Bowl Boys under-12s titles in December 2008, and was subsequently signed, along with his brother Chung Hong, to the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy at IMG in Florida.^[4] He began competing on the ITF junior tour in 2012, and was runner-up in the 2013 Wimbledon Boys' Singles, a month after winning his first Futures title.^[5] He later competed in his first ATP tournament, the Malaysian Open, being defeated in the first round. He reached a career junior high of No. 7, with an 84–32 win–loss record.^[6]

Professional career

2014: Asian Games doubles Gold medal

2014 saw Chung move full-time to the men's professional game, winning three Futures tournaments and the 2014 Bangkok Open, his first Challenger level tournament.^[3] He competed in the qualifying for the 2014 US Open and won two matches for the South Korea Davis Cup team to help keep them in the Asia/Oceania Zone Group I. He also won gold in the doubles competition at the 2014 Asian Games^[7] and ended 2014 ranked 151 in the ATP rankings.^[3]

2015: Breakthrough

Chung reached the final qualifying round for the Australian Open, but focused his efforts on the Challenger Tour. He won at the Burnie Challenger in February to reach the world's top 150^[3] and subsequently received a Wildcard for the ATP World Tour competition at the Miami Open, getting to the second round of this Masters level tournament.^[8] Two further Challenger titles followed in April and May 2015, which saw him enter the world top 100 for the first time.^[9] His rapid rise up the rankings and an error on behalf of the Korean Tennis Federation meant that he missed the entry deadline for the 2015 French Open. Although he was later handed a wildcard into the qualifying tournament, he was eliminated in the first round.^[10] Chung then lost in straight sets to unranked Nicholas Monroe in the first round of qualifiers in the Topshelf Open. In the 2015 Wimbledon Championships, he reached his first main draw in a Grand Slam tournament, losing in five sets in the first round to Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Immediately following his first round loss at Wimbledon, Chung returned to his home country and won the Men's Singles and Men's Team events at the 2015 Summer Universiade in Gwangju. At the 2015 US Open, Chung qualified for the main draw and recorded his first win in a Grand Slam against James Duckworth. Chung lost in the second round against fifth seed Stanislas Wawrinka in straight sets, despite taking each set to a tiebreak. He continued to play on both the Challenger and ATP tour through 2015, winning a further Challenger at Kaohsiung in September and reaching his first ATP quarterfinal at the Shenzhen Open.^[11] He was awarded the year-end ATP Most Improved Player award for 2015, after climbing over 120 places to No. 51 in the rankings.^[12]

2016: Injury-shortened season

Chung won his first round match in Brisbane against Sam Groth. He lost in the second round to the 3rd seed Marin Čilić. At the Australian Open Chung lost in the first round to Novak Djokovic.

In February, Chung lost in Sofia in the first round to qualifier Marius Copil. In Rotterdam Chung reached second round, where he lost to Viktor Troicki. In Marseille he lost in the first round to David Goffin. In Dubai Chung defeated Andreas Seppi in the first round.^[13] Then he lost to Roberto Bautista Agut, winning only a single game in this match.^[14] Chung won both singles in the Davis Cup tie against New Zealand. South Korea won 3–1.

After the 2016 French Open, Chung took nearly four months off to recover from an abdominal injury.^[15]

2017: Top 50, Next Gen Finals champion

Chung scored his first Australian Open match by defeating Renzo Olivo. He lost in the second round against eventual semifinalist Grigor Dimitrov despite winning the first set. In April, Chung reached the quarterfinals of the 2017 Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell, taking Rafael Nadal to a tie-break before eventually losing. To reach the quarterfinals, Chung came through qualifying and the main draw to record six wins in a row without dropping a set, including victories over Denis Istomin, Phillip Kohlschreiber and Alexander Zverev.

In May, Chung competed at the 2017 BMW Open in Munich, reaching the semifinals. In the second round, Chung recorded a victory against Gael Monfils, who at a ranking of No. 16 was the highest-ranked player Chung had defeated. At the French Open, Chung achieved his first Grand Slam breakthrough by reaching the third round, including a win over 27th seed Sam Querrey in the first round. He lost against the eighth seed Kei Nishikori in five sets.

In August, Chung reached the third round of the Rogers Cup, his best result at an ATP Masters 1000 tournament to date, beating 13th-ranked David Goffin in the second round in straight sets. He qualified for the Next Generation ATP Finals in Milan and defeated Andrey Rublev in the final. As the undefeated champion, Chung won prize money of $390,000.

2018: Major semifinal and top 20 debut

Chung picked up his first big result of the year by reaching the quarterfinals of the Auckland Open, recording a win over John Isner in the second round.

At the Australian Open, Chung made his breakthrough into the limelight by becoming the first South Korean player, male or female, to advance past the fourth round of a Grand Slam tournament. In the third round, he achieved his first victory over a Top 10 player, defeating world No. 4 Alexander Zverev in five sets.^[16] In the next round, Chung won a straight sets match against six-time Australian Open champion and former world number one Novak Djokovic, who had just returned from injury.^[17] This marked the first time since 2007 that Djokovic had lost in straight sets at the Australian Open.^[18] In the quarterfinals, Chung defeated unseeded American Tennys Sandgren to reach his first Grand Slam semifinal. He became the youngest Australian Open semifinalist since Marin Čilić in 2010 and the lowest ranked since then-No. 86 Marat Safin in 2004.^[19] Chung played Roger Federer in the semi-final, but withdrew due to foot blisters when he was close to going two sets down.^[20] The Korean also played the doubles event with Radu Albot and defeated the defending champions Henri Kontinen and John Peers.

Following the Australian Open, Chung went on to compete in the Delray Beach Open, where he defeated Cameron Norrie and Franko Škugor before bowing out to eventual winner Frances Tiafoe. He then played in the Mexican Open, where he defeated Donald Young and Ernesto Escobedo before losing to Kevin Anderson in straight sets.

At Indian Wells, Chung beat Dušan Lajović, Tomas Berdych and Pablo Cuevas to advance to his maiden Masters quarterfinals appearance, but lost to Roger Federer in straight sets. At Miami, Chung defeated Matthew Ebden, Michael Mmoh, and João Sousa, reaching the quarterfinals where he lost in straight sets to John Isner, who went on to win the tournament. He did not compete at the 2018 French Open or at the 2018 Wimbledon Championships.

2019–2020: Return to tour, back to Challenger titles, US Open third round

Seeded 24th at the 2019 Australian Open, Chung faced Bradley Klahn in the first round. He narrowly lost the first two sets in tiebreakers, but came back to win in five sets, advancing to the second round where he lost in four sets to Pierre-Hugues Herbert.

In the 2019 season, he struggled with injury, falling outside of the top 150 from a career-high ranking of No. 19. Chung returned at 2019 Chengdu Challenger.^[21]

He reached the third round of the 2019 US Open for the first time at this Major. However, he did not play after October 2020 when he played two qualifying matches at the 2020 Roland Garros.^[22]

2022–2023: Comeback

After two years of absence from the ATP tour he came back to play doubles with compatriot Kwon Soonwoo at the 2022 Korea Open.^[23][24][25] They won their first round match against Hans Hach Verdugo and Treat Huey in three sets and second against fourth seeds André Göransson and Ben McLachlan.

For his singles return he accepted a wildcard into the draw at the 2023 Seoul Challenger.^[26] In his first match back, he lost to Jordan Thompson in straight sets. His next match in Busan was an improvement, albeit unsuccessful, as he took a set against Yasutaka Uchiyama, eventually losing the match in three sets.

He entered the 2023 Surbiton Trophy using a protected ranking but was defeated by Andy Murray in the first round. He also entered the 2023 Nottingham Open but lost to third seed Nuno Borges.

Equipment

Chung currently uses and endorses the Yonex Vcore Duel G 97 310g, but now has a paint job of the Yonex Vcore Pro 97 310g.^[27] Although the Duel G 97 is a 16x20, he has it specially having it strung at 16x19 and by skipping one cross string when stringing. His string of choice is the Luxilon ALU Power.^[27] He wears Lacoste apparel and wears Nike Air Zoom Vapor X as his shoe.

ATP Next Generation finals

Singles: 1 (1 title)

Result	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	2017	Next Generation ATP Finals, Italy	Hard (i)	Andrey Rublev	3–4(5–7), 4–3(7–2), 4–2, 4–2

ATP Challenger Tour finals

Singles: 12 (9 titles, 3 runner-ups)

Legend ATP Challenger Tour (9–3)

Finals by surface Hard (8–3) Clay (1–0) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Aug 2014	Bangkok, Thailand	Challenger	Hard	Jordan Thompson	7–6(7–0), 6–4
Win	2–0	Feb 2015	Burnie, Australia	Challenger	Hard	Alex Bolt	6–2, 7–5
Loss	2–1	Feb 2015	Launceston, Australia	Challenger	Hard	Bjorn Fratangelo	6–4, 2–6, 5–7
Win	3–1	Apr 2015	Savannah, USA	Challenger	Clay (green)	James McGee	6–3, 6–2
Win	4–1	May 2015	Busan, South Korea	Challenger	Hard	Lukáš Lacko	6–3, 6–1
Loss	4–2	May 2015	Seoul, South Korea	Challenger	Hard	Go Soeda	6–3, 3–6, 3–6
Win	5–2	Sep 2015	Kaohsiung, Taiwan	Challenger	Hard	Yuki Bhambri	7–5, 6–4
Loss	5–3	Sep 2016	Nanchang, China	Challenger	Hard	Hiroki Moriya	6–4, 1–6, 4–6
Win	6–3	Sep 2016	Kaohsiung, Taiwan (2)	Challenger	Hard	Lee Duck-hee	6–4, 6–2
Win	7–3	Nov 2016	Kobe, Japan	Challenger	Hard (i)	James Duckworth	6–4, 7–6(7–2)
Win	8–3	Jan 2017	Maui, USA	Challenger	Hard	Taro Daniel	7–6(7–3), 6–1
Win	9–3	Aug 2019	Chengdu, China	Challenger	Hard	Yuichi Sugita	6–4, 6–3

ITF Futures finals

Singles: 7 (4 titles, 3 runner-ups)

Legend ITF Futures (4–3)

Finals by surface Hard (4–3) Clay (0–0) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	May 2013	South Korea F2, Seoul	Futures	Hard	Daniel Nguyen	6–4, 5–7, 4–6
Win	1–1	Jun 2013	South Korea F6, Gimcheon	Futures	Hard	Enrique López Pérez	6–2, 6–3
Win	2–1	Feb 2014	Thailand F1, Nonthaburi	Futures	Hard	Nam Ji-sung	6–2, 7–6(7–4)
Win	3–1	Mar 2014	Thailand F3, Nonthaburi	Futures	Hard	Marcus Willis	6–2, 6–4
Loss	3–2	Mar 2014	China F3, Yuxi	Futures	Hard	Zhang Ze	6–7(3–7), 6–7(3–7)
Win	4–2	Jun 2014	South Korea F3, Changwon	Futures	Hard	Cho Min-hyeok	6–1, 2–6, 7–5
Loss	4–3	Jun 2014	South Korea F4, Daegu	Futures	Hard	Kim Cheong-eui	5–7, 6–7(5–7)

Performance timelines

Key

W

F

SF

QF

#R

RR

Q#

P#

DNQ

A

Z#

PO

G

S

B

NMS

NTI

P

NH

(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Singles

Current through the 2021 Western & Southern Open.

Tournament	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	SR	W–L	Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	Q3	1R	2R	SF	2R	A	A	0 / 4	7–4	64%
French Open	A	A	Q1	1R	3R	A	A	Q2	A	0 / 2	2–2	50%
Wimbledon	A	A	1R	A	A	A	A	NH	A	0 / 1	0–1	0%
US Open	A	Q2	2R	A	2R	2R	3R	A	A	0 / 4	5–4	55%
Win–loss	0–0	0–0	1–2	0–2	4–3	6–2	3–2	0–0	0–0	0 / 11	14–11	56%
Year-end championships
ATP Finals	Did not qualify									0 / 0	0–0	–
ATP Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells Masters	A	A	A	1R	A	QF	A	NH	A	0 / 2	3–2	60%
Miami Open	A	A	2R	1R	1R	QF	A	NH	A	0 / 4	4–4	50%
Monte-Carlo Masters	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	NH	A	0 / 0	0–0	–
Madrid Open	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	NH	A	0 / 1	0–1	0%
Italian Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 0	0–0	–
Canadian Open	A	A	1R	A	3R	A	A	NH	A	0 / 2	2–2	50%
Cincinnati Masters	A	A	Q2	A	1R	2R	A	A	A	0 / 2	1–2	33%
Shanghai Masters	A	A	Q2	A	2R	2R	A	NH		0 / 2	2–2	50%
Paris Masters	A	A	A	A	2R	A	A	A	A	0 / 1	1–1	50%
Win–loss	0–0	0–0	1–2	0–2	4–5	8–5	0–0	0–0	0–0	0 / 14	13–14	48%
National representation
Summer Olympics	Not Held			A	Not Held				A	0 / 0	0–0	–
Davis Cup	A	Z1	Z1	Z1	Z1	A	A	A	A	0 / 0	10–2	83%
Career statistics
	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	Career
Tournaments	1	0	9	13	19	18	8	0	0	68
Titles	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Finals	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Overall win–loss	0–1	2–1	12–10	8–13	29–18	29–18	6–8	0–0	0–0	86–69
Win%	0%	66%	54%	38%	62%	62%	43%	–	–	55.48%
Year-end ranking	550	173	51	104	58	25	128	161	487	$3,382,228

Doubles

Current through to 2021 Australian Open.

Tournament	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	SR	W–L	Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	1R	A	3R	A	A	A	0 / 2	2–2	50%
French Open	A	A	1R	A	A	A	A	0 / 1	0–1	0%
Wimbledon	A	A	A	A	A	NH	A	0 / 0	0–0	–
US Open	1R	A	2R	A	A	A	A	0 / 2	1–2	33%
Win–loss	0–1	0–1	1–2	2–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	0 / 5	3–5	38%

Record against top 10 players

Hyeon's match record against those who have been ranked in the top 10, with those who have been No. 1 in boldface

• Andrey Rublev 3–1
• Daniil Medvedev 2–0
• Alexander Zverev 2–1
• Marcos Baghdatis 1–0
• Matteo Berrettini 1–0
• Gaël Monfils 1–0
• Milos Raonic 1–0
• Jack Sock 1–0
• Roberto Bautista Agut 1–1
• Novak Djokovic 1–1
• Denis Shapovalov 1–1
• Fernando Verdasco 1–1
• Tomáš Berdych 1–2
• Marin Čilić 1–3
• David Goffin 1–3
• John Isner 1–3
• Pablo Carreño Busta 0–1
• Grigor Dimitrov 0–1
• David Ferrer 0–1
• Fabio Fognini 0–1
• Richard Gasquet 0–1
• Ernests Gulbis 0–1
• Andy Murray 0-1
• Kei Nishikori 0–1
• Juan Martín del Potro 0–1
• Stan Wawrinka 0–1
• Kevin Anderson 0–2
• Roger Federer 0–2
• Rafael Nadal 0–3

* Statistics correct as of 06 June 2023.

Wins over top 10 players

Season	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	Total
Wins	0	0	0	0	1	0	1

#	Player	Rank	Event	Surface	Rd	Score	CH Rank
2018
1.	Alexander Zverev	4	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia	Hard	3R	5–7, 7–6(7–3), 2–6, 6–3, 6–0	58

References

1. "The pronunciation by Chung Hyeon himself". ATPWorldTour.com. Retrieved 2018-01-09.
2. "ATP Profile". atpworldtour.com. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
3. Denefeld, Rene (14 February 2015). "A Beginner's Guide: Chung Hyeon". The Tennis Island. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
4. "IMG signs Chung brothers; will train at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy". IMG. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
5. "IMG Academy's Gianluigi Quinzi wins Junior Wimbledon championship". IMG. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
6. "Hyeon Chung Player Details". International Tennis Federation. Retrieved 19 September 2015.
7. "IMG Academy sweeps gold medals in singles and doubles men's tennis at Asian Games". IMG. Archived from the original on 13 July 2015. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
8. "Stars of Tomorrow: Hyeon Chung". ATP. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
9. Kwon, Ji-youn (13 May 2015). "Chung Hyeon eyes Lee Hyung-taik's records". The Korea Times. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
10. "French Open Men's Qualifying". Tennis Atlantic. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
11. "Berdych Wins All-Czech Contest; Cilic Reaches Semis". ATP. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
12. "Bryans, Chung, Djokovic, Federer, Paire & Zverev Honoured In 2015 ATP World Tour Awards". ATP. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
13. "Lopez Reaches 400 Wins Milestone In Dubai". 22 February 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
14. "Bautista Agut Sets Baghdatis Dubai QF Clash; Berdych To Face Kyrgios". 24 February 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
15. "Chung Returns In Nanchang Challenger". ATP World Tour. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
16. "Alexander Zverev beaten in five sets by Hyeon Chung". BBC Sport. 20 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
17. Raz Mirza (23 January 2018). "Chung beats Novak Djokovic to set up Australian Open quarter-final against Tennys Sandgren". SkySports. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
18. "Five takeaways from Hyeon Chung's Aussie Open win over Novak Djokovic". Tennis.com. 22 January 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
19. "From Milan To Melbourne, Chung Keeps Surging". atpworldtour.com. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
20. Ramsay, Alix (26 January 2018). "Federer into final as Chung retires". ausopen.com. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
21. "The Professor Is Back: Chung Returns At Chengdu Challenger". atpworldtour.com. ATP. 30 July 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
22. "Hyeon Chung, why don't you play tennis? Serious back injury". Archysport. 18 January 2022. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
23. "Scouting Report: Djokovic Headlines in Tel Aviv, Ruud in Seoul & Sinner in Sofia | ATP Tour | Tennis".
24. "Ex-Australian Open semifinalist Chung Hyeon to play first tournament in two years". 25 September 2022.
25. "Hyeon Chung: 'I'm Just Happy to Play Again' | ATP Tour | Tennis".
26. "Former Australian Open semi-finalist returns to action after years!". Tennis World USA. 18 April 2023.
27. Choi, Byung-kyu (2018-01-24). "호주오픈 4강 정현, 장비 알파에서 오메가까지" [Find out about Jung-Hyun's equipment from Alpha to Omega.]. SeoulNews (in Korean). Retrieved 2018-06-23.

External links

• Chung Hyeon at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Chung Hyeon at the International Tennis Federation
• Chung Hyeon at the Davis Cup

Awards
Preceded by Roberto Bautista Agut	ATP Most Improved Player 2015	Succeeded by Lucas Pouille