The first major tennis tournament of the season, the Australian Open, will begin a fierce battle for about two weeks from the 16th.
Coincidentally, the Australian Open is held over the Lunar New Year holidays in Korea, so it draws special attention. If there is at least one person in the family who likes tennis, there is a high possibility that the ‘Australian Open’ will be mentioned at New Year’s gatherings.
Five years ago, the Australian Open shook not only family gatherings, but the whole country. It is because of Jeong Hyeon (27), a man who comes to mind when thinking of the Australian Open.
undefeated youth
Five years ago, on January 25, an article was published on the front page of this magazine titled “Fall in love with the confident 22-year-old Jung Hyun.”
This is because Chung Hyun became the first Korean to advance to the semifinals of the singles major tennis tournaments (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open) on January 24, 2018. The highest record before Jeong Hyeon was Lee Hyeong-taek (47)’s advance to the round of 16 at the 2000 and 2007 US Open.
Although Jeong Hyeon withdrew from the semifinals due to a plantar blister injury to Roger Federer (42), who retired last year, he caused the ‘Chung Hyun Syndrome’ in Korea at the time. This is because he showed the world the spirit and confidence of a young man in his 20s without being discouraged even when he met the world’s strongest players. At this time, people in their 20s said in unison, “I realized why a sports star can become a ‘national hero’.”In particular, in the round of 16, he defeated Novak Djokovic (36, Serbia, world No. 5), who still reigns as the world’s best tennis player, which is still the last defeat Djokovic has ever experienced at the Australian Open. Djokovic later reached the top of the Australian Open for three consecutive years from 2019 to 2021, and in 2022, he could not compete at all due to a problem with vaccination. At the Australian Open this time, he challenges to win his 10th career title.
In tennis, which enjoys world-wide popularity as an individual sport, the repercussions Chung Hyeon had in Korea at this time were greater than any other event. In April 2018, he rewrote Korean tennis history by climbing to the 19th place in the world. 카지노
moaning in nightmares of injuries
He won a gold medal in men’s doubles tennis at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, and his military service was resolved, and his career seemed to be on the rise. However, Jeong-hyeon encountered an unexpected reef called injury.
Since 2019, Jung Hyeon suffered from a chronic back injury and struggled to compete in the tournament. Since his participation in competitions is small, the world rankings naturally went down.
After losing the second round of the French Open men’s singles qualifying round in September 2020, Jung Hyeon focused on back injury treatment and rehabilitation training, and there was no official record for about two years.
In September of last year, he returned to the court for the first time in two years. At the time, Jung Hyun paired up with Kwon Soon-woo (26, Dangjin City Hall, world No. 84) at the men’s professional tennis (ATP) tour Eugene Investment & Securities Korea Open held at Olympic Park in Songpa-gu, Seoul, and scrambled for doubles. At this time, he said about his physical condition, “I didn’t just rehabilitate for the past two years, but I tried to come back, but the back pain recurred again, so (return) kept being delayed.” I don’t know how it will be,” he said cautiously.
The two performed well, reaching the semi-finals of the tournament. Afterwards, Jung Hyeon said that he would participate in the singles event at the Challenger event depending on his physical condition. The Challenger is one level lower than the ATP Tour. However, he later withdrew his participation plan due to a recurrence of back pain during training, and thus ended the 2022 season.
Jung Hyun’s current situation
Currently, Chung Hyeon is effectively classified as an ‘inactive player’ and has no singles world rankings.
According to a tennis official, Jung Hyun is currently concentrating on rehabilitation training in Germany. There are several leading rehabilitation training centers in Germany, and this is where we can get a glimpse of Jung Hyun’s will to return.
The only Korean player to compete in the upcoming Australian Open is Kwon Soon-woo, who competed in doubles last year paired with Chung Hyeon.
We are waiting for the healthy return of Chung Hyeon, who surprised the world at the Australian Open five years ago.