Michael chang tennis biography

Retrieved October 1, Further reading [ edit ]. External links [ edit ]. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Michael Chang. Andre Agassi. Pete Sampras. Articles and topics related to Michael Chang. French Open men's singles champions. ATP Masters singles champions. Champions by year — Series' finals. Members of the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Pierre Etchebaster Tom Pettitt. Jones Robert J. Authority control databases. Germany United States Spain Netherlands. Toggle the table of contents. Michael Chang. Chang in United States. Orange County, California , U. F W QF F , Zoeng1 Dak1 Pui4. Stefan Edberg. Thomas Muster. Boris Becker. David Wheaton. Michael Stich. Jay Berger.

Indian Wells. Andrei Chesnokov. Alberto Mancini. Paul Haarhuis. Bohdan Ulihrach. Legend Grand Slam 1—3. Finals by surface Hard 21— Finals by setting Outdoors 22— Sep San Francisco , US. Johan Kriek. May Aaron Krickstein. Nov Guy Forget. Jul Jakob Hlasek. Guillaume Raoux. Feb Jim Courier. Mar Indian Wells , US. Carl-Uwe Steeb.

Amos Mansdorf. Richard Krajicek. Aug Cincinnati , US. Marc Rosset. Jonas Svensson. Oct Greg Rusedski. David Rikl. Jan San Jose , US. Renzo Furlan. Apr Patrick Rafter. Todd Martin. Thomas Enqvist. Mark Philippoussis. Washington, D. Wayne Ferreira. Jonathan Stark. Chang was months away from turning 18 when he defeated Stefan Edberg to win his major title, which sent ripples throughout the tennis world, but no one should have been surprised.

Chang was a prodigious junior player, winning a slew of USTA Championships as a youngster playing in older age divisions. Aligned at the time with a burgeoning group of young American players that included Pete Sampras , Andre Agassi , and Jim Courier , it was the 5-foot-6 dynamo Chang who became the first to win a major singles title.

When the world rankings came out one month prior to the US Open, Chang became the youngest player ever ranked in the world Top 5. The tennis community marveled at his willpower and grit. Chang was seeded No. What many do recall is his amazing comeback upset win over No. Lendl looked strong, and was in complete control of the match.

Michael chang tennis biography

In Chang became the youngest male to win the French Open. His accomplishments there included defeating Ivan Lendl, who was the number one ranked tennis player in the world, and then besting Stefan Edberg, the then-current Wimbledon champion, in the final to win the Open. Chang explained his family's close involvement this way to Keown: "That's part of the Chinese culture—Asian families are close-knit.

My family's made a lot of sacrifices for me. The first four years I turned pro, my mom quit her job to come and travel with me. That's a great sacrifice, and it was great to have my mom travel with me when I was still a teenager. Chang became a devout Christian in when he was 15 years old. As he said on his Web site, "My grandparents had given me a Bible and they wanted me to read it every day.

On this one particular evening I didn't have anything else to do so I decided to take a good luck at my Bible. Chang's comparatively small stature five feet, nine inches, pounds made him an underdog in his own eyes, battling bigger and heavier opponents, who typically outweighed him by 20 pounds. But, this only made him play harder, again taking his inspiration from Christianity.

Chang explained his family's close involvement this way to Keown: "That's part of the Chinese culture — Asian families are close-knit. My family's made a lot of sacrifices for me. The first four years I turned pro, my mom quit her job to come and travel with me. That's a great sacrifice, and it was great to have my mom travel with me when I was still a teenager.

Chang became a devout Christian in when he was 15 years old. As he said on his Web site, "My grandparents had given me a Bible and they wanted me to read it every day. On this one particular evening I didn't have anything else to do so I decided to take a good luck at my Bible. Chang's comparatively small stature five feet, nine inches, pounds made him an underdog in his own eyes, battling bigger and heavier opponents, who typically outweighed him by 20 pounds.

But, this only made him play harder, again taking his inspiration from Christianity. Chang told Keown that although his frame is small, he saw this "as a way to glorify the Lord. Triumphing at a series of tournaments though the s, Chang became an international tennis sensation. By the end of , he had won a total of 34 titles. Chang's successes made him popular in Asian countries where tennis fans were used to seeing mostly Europeans or European-Americans playing in the major events.

Louis Dispatch, "in the future there will be some Asian tennis players coming on strong like Bjorn Borg made an impact in Sweden. As drew to a close and his game began to lose steam, Chang, now 30, began to think about retirement. The decision to retire within the next year or so improved his focus. One of his opponents in , number one ranked Lleyton Hewitt, told Jim Allen of the Daily Yomiuri, "In the last few weeks, he's played some of the best tennis he's played in three or four years.

My personality is one to work very hard. At times in my career, I've overworked and that's hurt me …. There comes a time when it's time to move on and to move on to other things. Chang gave no hint as to what new career he might pursue after tennis. But he has left no doubt as to what leisure pursuits might be on his horizon; the sport he enjoys most besides tennis is fishing.