Twelve months ago, Hyeon Chung probably thought he would be in a much better place at this stage of his still young career. Between the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018, he enjoyed a stratospheric rise to stardom (especially in his home country of South Korea) by winning the first ATP NextGen Finals in Milan in November and then reaching his first Major semifinal at the 2018 Australian Open after defeating Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic.
However, his retirement during the semifinal against Roger Federer due to a blister under his foot was the first snag of what would become an injury-plagued season that saw him forced to skip both Roland Garros and Wimbledon. After a 20-8 record in the first four months of the year, he was sidelined for 10 weeks with a leg injury returning to the ATP Tour only at the end of July. He then continued his season playing nine further events (withdrawing from the US Open) with a lackluster 9-9 record ending his campaign with a quarterfinal loss to Fabio Fognini in Stockholm.
After a difficult comeback from two-sets-to-love down in the first round against American Bradley Klahn, Chung fell in the second round to Frenchman Pierre Hugues Herbert 6-2, 1-6, 6-2, 6-4, failing to defend the points from 2018’s semifinal which will see him drop to n.50 in the ATP ranking.
“It was a tough day for me – said Chung immediately after his defeat – I tried to focus on my return, but especially in the first set he served really, really well. Then I found my rhythm in the second set, but I have been a bit unlucky with the rain that stopped the match”.
Chung spent the off-season in Bangkok, exactly like in 2018, and played two tournaments to prepare for the Australian Open, losing on the first round on both occasions. “My n.1 priority for this year is to remain healthy since in 2018 I experienced too many ups and downs due to injuries. Then I would like to play better than I did last year: I know it is difficult, but I am trying with my team to make small adjustments to my game. For example, we have changed a bit the starting position of my serve, with my feet a bit further apart. However not all changes work well, so it is always a long process”.
