South Koreas Duckhee Lee became the first deaf player to ever win an ATP main draw match on Monday at the Winston-Salem Open. The 21-year-old from Jecheon, South Korea defeated Switzerland’s Henri Laaksonen 7-6(4) 6-1 to reach the second round.
Lee does not use sign language, as he was taught to read lips from a young age by his mother. But he does occasionally run into difficulties on court when it comes to communication with the umpires. Lee had trouble communicating himself when a scoreboard malfunction showed the score to be 40-15 instead of 30-15 during his match with Laaksonen on Monday. A tournament volunteer helped by holding up three fingers to gesture “30.”
"Don't be discouraged and if you try hard, you can do anything, you can achieve anything you want," Lee said through an interpreter on Monday, adding: "doesn't want people to get discouraged and get down about their disability."
Lee fell in three sets to Hubert Hurkacz on Tuesday at Winston-Salem.
But his victory on Monday is likely the first of many for this inspiring young man.
"I beat him a few years ago and he came up to me with a Google translator after the match and said, ‘What are my weaknesses?’ Tennys Sandgren told ATPWorldTour.com on Monday. “For someone who’s deaf and doesn’t speak English well at all, to put yourself out there like that… I wouldn’t do it! It was really cool.”
Sandgren added: "You learn so much about how your opponent hits the ball based on the sound of the shot. If you can’t hear it… You have to have insane skill and insane talent.”