On February 24, Beijing time, in the latest week of ATP world rankings, Zhang Zhizhen from Chinese mainland became the first Asian men's singles player with a ranking of 49th, which is also the first player in the history of Chinese men's tennis to reach the top of Asia.
For this good news, the majority of fans are also quite concerned, not only yesterday's Weibo opening screen is the news of Zhang Zhizhen's ascension to the top, but also related topics about #Zhang Zhizhen Asian Men's Tennis First Brother # have also rushed to the hot search, and the discussion on tennis topics is very high.
Zhang Zhizhen was born on October 16, 1996 in a sports family in Shanghai, his father was a professional football player who played in many domestic league teams, and his mother was a shooting athlete.
Zhang Zhizhen, who started playing tennis at the age of 4 and idolized Federer, had a pretty good performance as a teenager. He officially turned professional tennis in 2012, and in October of that year, Zhang Zhizhen, who was not yet 16 years old, appeared as a substitute player in the qualifying tournament of the Shanghai Masters, which was also his first appearance on the ATP tour.
He lost 3-6 0-6 to Brian Becker in that match, but the following year he partnered Wu Di to win the men's doubles gold medal at the National Games, becoming the youngest national tennis champion.
Zhang Zhizhen should be considered to be famous at a young age in China, but it is not as easy as imagined to gain a foothold in the highly competitive international men's tennis world, and after many years of turning professional, Zhang Zhizhen only reached the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time in the 2021 season.
At Wimbledon this year, he defeated Barillas, Tabillo and Cerundolo in qualifying rounds, becoming the first Chinese mainland player to reach the Wimbledon men's singles main draw since the Open era, but he lost to Antoine Huang in five sets in the first round of the main event.
The 2022 season was another breakthrough year for Zhang, who regained the Challenger title (Coldenons), won three US Open qualifiers, and reached the quarterfinals of the Napoli Open at the end of the season, setting a new record for the highest ranking of men's tennis in Chinese mainland at the time with a world ranking of 97th.
In recent years, with the rise of a group of men's players such as Wu Yixuan, Shang Juncheng, and Buyun Chaoket, the Chinese men's tennis has shown a relative group advantage.
However, despite reaching the top of the Asian men's tennis, Zhang Zhizhen's performance this season did not meet expectations, he lost to Shapovalov in the first round of the season against Adelaide in the first round, and lost to Rune in the first round of the Australian Open, and currently only has a record of 4 wins and 7 losses.(Source: Tennis House Author: Barbie)