He is 17 years old and makes history: Juncheng Shang, from firing Marcelo Ríos to being the first Chinese to win at the Australian Open

Teenager

made history for his country on Monday by becoming

"I think it's huge for Chinese men's tennis. We've had really good players on the women's side, but honestly not big names on the men's side

," said Shang, who goes by the name

on tour .

"I think I'm very lucky to be a part of it and to be a member of this team. Hopefully we can do something big in the future

," said the 17-year-old, who is also the youngest player in the men's draw at this first Grand Slam of 2023.

In action,.

Shang has a privileged physique.

Photo: EFE

The tennis player, who entered the main draw after circumventing the qualy, played almost three hours of match against the experienced German

, whom he beat 6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (2) and 7-5.

His prize will be a second round match against 16th-seeded American

, who knocked out another German,

, in close four sets.

The victory over Otte allowed Shang, with a huge future, to leave behind a controversy that had started months before when he decided to fire his coach,

, with whom he worked for three intense months in which he jumped from 362nd place. from the world ranking to 195th with a title and a final in the always demanding Challengers circuit.

The former number one in the world had been surprised by the decision of the young Asian, who from one day to the next decided to fire him when it seemed that together they were destined for a great future.

Shang celebrates a point won against Otte.

Photo: EFE

“They didn't give me any reason why we broke up.

They didn't tell me 'you don't like how you dress'.

Not a piece of shit.

I learned this from my agent, who tells me: 'Bad news, you're not going to continue with Jerry.'

He said: 'Oh, perfect'.

And I was just on the plane from Atlanta to Sarasota.

I got out and ran into Jerry and his parents by surprise and I asked them 'So we're done?'.

They didn't expect me to know, they planned to tell me through the agent.

And the father tells me: 'Yes'.

I replied 'Well, everything is perfect, but I would love to know the reason why we broke up'.

Then, the father starts talking and I don't understand him.

Then I say, 'Jerry, can you explain it to me?'

And he answers me 'My dad says...'

, lamented Chino Ríos in statements to the Chilean newspaper

.

And, with anger, he recounted some infidence.

“He plays very easy, but he doesn't take the shit out of it (he doesn't make an effort).

For me, a professional trains two and a half hours in the morning and two and a half hours in the afternoon, more physical.

He, two hours, wakes up at 12 noon… They have another culture.

Any pain we stop.

The hueón (guy) advances five steps and goes back 10 ”, he revealed in the same interview.

Marcelo Ríos and Shang when they worked together.

After making his way through qualifying in Melbourne,

.

magazine

.

And he continued: "I mean, he was very nice to me and he hopes the best for me, but I don't want to give the details of what really happened. There was no natural feeling at the end. We started very well winning in Lexington, which was a tremendous confidence injection. Having had a former world number one is a very special feeling, it was a very good experience, sadly it didn't work out in the end."

Today Shang trains under the orders of

, an experienced Argentine trainer, who worked with the Japanese Kei Nishikori and the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.

And, incidentally, he does a little history.

Left handed.

Juncheng Shang hits a drive.

Photo: EFE

china grows

The progress of men's tennis in China was evident in this tournament in which three men from that country participate for the first time in a Grand Slam since the beginning of the Open era in 1968.

The other two are Zhang Zhizhen and Wu Yibing, who at the last US Open became the first Chinese to win a Grand Slam singles match in 63 years.

However, in Melbourne, Wu lost in the first round to Frenchman Corentin Moutet in a match of more than four hours (6-4, 5-7, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5).

With information from AFP

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