Chung Hyeon: What's more in store for the youth sensation who ousted Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open?
Chung Hyeon has been trending all over the internet since the 21-year-old has handed defeat to the six-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic in the round of 16. Nicknamed as the 'Professor' for wearing glasses, the young gun won the match in straight sets 7-6(4), 7-5, 7-6(3).
The South Korean next faces Tennys Sandgren in the quarterfinals, who is one of the giant killers in the tournament as he defeated Dominic Thiem in the third round. Chung is touted to be the favourite in that game as Sandgren is ranked almost 30 places below him at 97.
A win over Sandgren will take him to the semi-finals where he will either clash with Roger Federer or Thomas Berdych. Opponents won't be writing off Chung easily as Djokovic himself admitted that going forward, Chung has the potential to become one of the top 10 players in the world.
More importantly, Chung has displayed the ability to stay calm under pressure during several key moments in the match with the Djoker, a quality that helps one make further strides in huge tournaments especially the Grand Slams.
He has the knack of striking the ball well and is also playing long rallies and winning them at will. It won't be a surprise if Chung Hyeon goes on to take the Australian Open trophy home!
Coincidentally, Chung was defeated by Novak Djokovic in the first round at the Australian Open in the year 2016. Since then, Chung has made tremendous progress by making several improvements to his game.
The results are visible as he jumped up on the rankings list from the 170s to reach the top 50 after winning the Next Gen ATP Finals in 2017.
While his fate in the Australian Open is yet to be decided, what's sure is that Chung Hyeon has won himself plenty of fans who will be eagerly waiting for another formidable display from the South Korean in the quarter-finals. Certainly, the youngster is here to stay and hopefully we will see him perform likewise in the rest of the Grand Slams this year.