Hyeon Chung’s journey to this year’s BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells has been far from smooth.
Ahead of the first Masters 1000 event of the season, the South Korean played at the Acapulco Open in Mexico. Where he reached the quarter-finals before losing to Kevin Anderson. It was after his campaign at the tournament where he was hit with a setback. Travelling from Acapulco to LAX Airport in Los Angeles, he arrived in America without one key thing – his rackets!
During the transit, Chung’s equipment had gone awol. Prompting him to make a direct appeal to American Airlines and Aeromexico on social media.
Hi @AmericanAir and @Aeromexico please can you find my rackets – lost between Acapulco and LAX. Kind of important for me 😉🎾Thanks
— Hyeon Chung (@HyeonChung) March 3, 2018
Fortunately, there was a happy ending for the world No.29. 10 hours after his call for help, the South Korean got reunited with his items. A blue Yonex bag with his name written across the front of it. Chung later expressed his gratitude by thanking Benjamin Ray. A member of American Airlines’ customer service department.
We can all relax now 😂Great work by @AmericanAir and especially Benjamin Ray in customer services team 🙏See you in @BNPPARIBASOPEN pic.twitter.com/9JlxxmL44h
— Hyeon Chung (@HyeonChung) March 4, 2018
The 21-year-old is hoping to continue his strong start to the season in Indian Wells. He enters the tournament with a 11-4 win-loss record so this year. Highlighted by his Australian Open performance that saw him become the first Korean player to reach the last four of a grand slam tournament.
Chung is yet to reach the quarter-final stage of a Masters 1000 event. His best run was reaching the third round of the Canadian Open last year. At Indian Wells, he is yet to win a match after losing in the first round to Albert Ramos-Vinolas last year.
