Shang Juncheng (; also known as Jerry Shang; born 2 February 2005) is a Chinese

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player. Shang reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 167 on 30 January 2023. In July 2021, he reached the number one in the ITF junior rankings.

Personal life

Shang currently trains and lives at the

IMG Academy IMG Academy is a preparatory boarding school and sports training destination in Bradenton, Florida, United States. IMG Academy is set across over 600 acres and features programs consisting of sport camps for youth athletes, adult camps, a board ...

Bradenton Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698. History Late 18th and early 19th centuries A settlement established by Maroons or escaped sl ...

, Florida. Shang is the son of former footballer

Shang Yi Shang Yi (; born 20 January 1979) is Chinese former footballer who played at both professional and international levels, as a midfielder. He is a commentator for Beijing TV Sports Channel. Career Born in Tianjin, Shang began his career at Bei ...

and former table tennis player Wu Na.

Junior career

2019: First ITF title

In 2019, Shang was the first player born in 2005 to win a tournament on the

ITF Junior Circuit The ITF Junior Circuit is the premier level for worldwide competition among under-18 junior tennis players. Founded in 1977 with only nine tournaments, the 2011 ITF Junior Circuit offered over 350 tournaments in 118 countries. Mirroring the ATP an ...

2021: Major finalist

Shang played in the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

and reached the quarterfinals, in which he lost to Sean Cuenin in two sets. He also played in the Wimbledon Junior Division and reached the semifinals. He lost to

Victor Lilov Victor Lilov (born 11 February 2004) is an American tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis ra ...

in two sets. In the US Open Junior Division, he reached the final and lost to Daniel Rincón in two sets (2–6, 6–7⁶).

Professional career

2022: ATP and historic Masters and top 200 debuts

Shang made his debut on the professional tour, after receiving a wildcard to play in the main draw of the

ATP Tour 500 The ATP 500 tournaments (previously known as the ''ATP World Tour 500'' tournaments, ''ATP International Series Gold'', and ''ATP Championship Series'') are the fourth highest tier of annual men's tennis tournament after the four Grand Slam tourn ...

event at the

2022 Rio Open The 2022 Rio Open, also known as Rio Open presented by Claro for sponsorship reasons, was a professional men's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 8th edition of the Rio Open, and part of the ATP Tour 500 of the 2022 ATP T ...

, after

Juan Martín del Potro Juan Martín del Potro () (born 23 September 1988) is an Argentine inactive professional tennis player. Del Potro's biggest achievement is a major title: the 2009 US Open, where he defeated Rafael Nadal in the semifinals and the five-time defen ...

announced his retirement from professional tennis. Shang was defeated by

Pedro Martínez Pedro Jaime Martínez (born October 25, 1971) is a Dominican-American former professional baseball starting pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from to , for five teams—most notably the Boston Red Sox from to . At the time o ...

in the first round. He received a wildcard into the qualifying draw of Indian Wells, where he beat

Francisco Cerúndolo Francisco Cerúndolo (born 13 August 1998) is an Argentine professional tennis player. He has won one ATP singles title. Cerúndolo attained a career high ATP singles ranking of World No. 24 on 25 July 2022. He also has a career high doubles r ...

in the first round and his opponent

Mats Moraing Mats Hans Moraing (born 20 June 1992) is a German professional tennis player. He achieved his career high ATP singles ranking of world No. 115 on 23 May 2022. Personal life Mats is the son of former German tennis player Heiner Moraing and is c ...

retired in the second. Having qualified into the main draw, he became the first Chinese man to play at Indian Wells and the first player from his country to qualify for an ATP Masters 1000. He was defeated by

Jaume Munar Jaume Antoni Munar Clar (; ; born 5 May 1997, in Majorca) is a Spanish professional tennis player. Munar has a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 52 achieved on 20 May 2019. He also has a career-high ATP doubles ranking of No. 149 achieved o ...

in straight sets. He won his first title at the 2022 Lexington Challenger becoming the youngest Chinese player to win a trophy in the Challenger Tour history and the youngest since

Carlos Alcaraz Carlos Alcaraz Garfia (born 5 May 2003) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked as the world No. 1 singles player by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Alcaraz has won six ATP Tour singles titles, including ...

at Alicante in 2020. He reached the top 200 at world No. 195 on 19 September 2022.

2023: Historic Grand Slam debut and first win

Shang made his Grand Slam debut by qualifying at the

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

, after defeating

Fábián Marozsán Fábián Marozsán (born 8 October 1999) is a Hungarian tennis player. Marozsán has a career high ATP singles ranking of world No. 160 achieved on 6 February 2023. He also has a career high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 460 achieved on 24 ...

, 16th seed

Fernando Verdasco Fernando Verdasco Carmona (; born 15 November 1983) is a Spanish professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 7, achieved in April 2009. His best performance in a Grand Slam was making the semifinals of the 2009 ...

and

Zsombor Piros Zsombor Piros (born 13 October 1999) is a Hungarian tennis player. Piros has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 138, achieved on 10 October 2022. He also has a career-high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 991, achieved on 8 August ...

, becoming the youngest male player at the tournament and the youngest Grand Slam men’s qualifier since 17-year-old

at the

2021 Australian Open The 2021 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park, on 8–21 February 2021. It was the 109th edition of the Australian Open, the 53rd in the Open Era, and the first Major tournament of the year. It was ...

. He became the 10th Chinese mainland player to reach the main draw at this Major in 2023. It was the first time a male Chinese trio was set to compete in a major singles draw in the

Open era The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Birmingham, England now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today as a separate sp ...

(since 1968) and the first in all of Australian Open history (since 1905). Shang defeated

Oscar Otte Oscar Otte (; born 16 July 1993) is a German professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 36 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved on 27 June 2022, and has a career-high doubles rank ...

in the first round, becoming the first Chinese male player to win a match at the Australian Open in the

Open Era The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Birmingham, England now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today as a separate sp ...

. He then lost in straight sets to

Frances Tiafoe Frances Tiafoe Jr. ( ; born January 20, 1998) is an American professional tennis player. The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) has ranked Tiafoe as high as world No. 17 in singles, on October 10, 2022, and world No. 160 in doubles, on No ...

in the second round.

ITF World Tennis Tour and ATP Challenger finals

Singles: 7 (6 titles, 1 runner-up)

Performance Timeline

Singles

Junior Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

References

External links

* * 2005 births Living people Chinese male tennis players Sportspeople from Bradenton, Florida {{China-tennis-bio-stub