By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Wednesday, September 28, 2022
A back injury kept promising Korean star Hyeon Chung off the ATP Tour for more than two years, but the 26-year-old is finally healthy again.
Chung, a former World No.19 and the first Korean man to ever reach a Grand Slam semifinal, hit the doubles court on Wednesday in Seoul, pairing with compatriot Soonwoo Kwon to earn a 2-6, 6-2, 10-8 triumph over Hans Hach Verdugo and Treat Huey.
That win marked Chung’s first competitive match since Roland Garros in 2020.
He looked sharp on Wednesday, particularly in the later stages of the match, after shaking off a fair bit of understandable rust.
“I had to treat it and rehab, treat and rehab all the time,” Chung, who owns 86 career ATP singles wins, told the ATP Tour. “Then [it was] training, training, training and rehab for like [the whole] two years.”
Chung, who upset Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic en route to the semis at the 2018 Australian Open, also reached back-to-back quarterfinals at Indian Wells and Miami in that same season.
Chung, currently without a ranking, is planning to play singles matches on the ATP Challenger Tour in Korea in the coming weeks.