Can Jeong-hyeon (26), who was the star of Korean tennis, really stretch for a ‘resurrection’ this time?
The Men’s Professional Tennis (ATP) Seoul Open Challenger announced on the 18th that Chung Hyeon decided to participate in the singles as a wild card in the finals. It is known that Jung Hyeon plans to participate in doubles as well as singles depending on his physical condition. The Seoul Open will be held at the Olympic Tennis Stadium in Songpa-gu, Seoul from the 24th to the 30th.
Jung Hyun was a runner representing Korean men’s tennis. In 2017, he won the Nexen (Next Generation) final, which is called the strongest rookie under 21 years old. He also succeeded in advancing to the semifinals at the 2018 Australian Open, the best ever for a Korean player. At that time, his opponent was Novak Djokovic (1st, Serbia). That’s how steep his growth was. However, a chronic back injury held him back. It has been about 2 years and 7 months since Jeong Hyeon played in singles since the first round of the French Open in September 2020.토토사이트
Jung Hyun, who was only focusing on his rehabilitation, made the 2022 ATP Tour Korea Open held at the Olympic Park Court in Seoul last September as the stage for his return. He received a wild card and competed in the men’s doubles by forming a pair with Kwon Soon-woo (77th, Dangjin City Hall), a year his junior. He seemed to be gaining momentum by advancing to the semifinals, breaking expectations.
Jung Hyeon announced that he would also participate in the singles later. He aimed to compete in the Seoul and Busan Challenger competitions. However, the back injury recurred and all subsequent schedules were canceled. And after 5 months, he started to check his physical condition again. Attention is focusing on whether Jung-hyeon can really make a comeback this time around.
In the midst of a strong wind of tennis fever blowing in Korea, if Chung Hyun is revived, the ‘boom’ is expected to rise even more. Along with his junior Kwon Soon-woo, who is consistently ranked in the top 100, he can become a ‘two-headed carriage’ in Korean men’s tennis. It is not a dream to look beyond the finals in the Davis Cup, a national competition. This is why the Seoul Open challenger is important to him.
On the other hand, the Seoul Open Challenger is a tournament one level lower than the tour, and mainly players outside the world ranking 100th place participate. Max Purcell (88th), Jordan Thompson (84th, above Australia), and Chris Eubanks (90th, USA) were named on the list.