Tennis: Five facts about Dallas Open champion Wu Yibing

Wu Yibing made history on Sunday by becoming the first Chinese man to win an Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour title after defeating John Isner at the Dallas Open. In the past year, he has surged up the world rankings, from 1,869th in March 2022 to 58th this week.

Here are five facts about the 23-year-old from Hangzhou.

1.  Highest-ranked Chinese male player in history

After winning the Dallas Open title on Sunday, Wu rose to 58th place in the world rankings. This makes him the highest ranked male player from China in the history of the ATP rankings.

In doing so he also overtook his compatriot Zhang Zizhen (92nd), who was the first Chinese player to reach the top 100 of the rankings, and he is the first to reach the top 60.

2. First in the country to win boys’ Grand Slam title

At the US Open in 2017, Wu won both the boys’ singles and doubles (with Chinese Taipei’s Hsu Yu-hsiou). This made him the first Chinese male to win a Grand Slam boys’ title.

In the same year, he also made it to the semi-finals of the boys’ singles and doubles at the Australian Open.

3. First Chinese man ever to reach the third round in the US Open

The US Open in 2022 was a milestone event for Wu, who became the first man from his country in the Open era to qualify for the main draw, where he continued to make history by making it through to the third round.

He won his first round match against Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili, which made him the first male player from China to win a US Open match in the Open era – a result that was last achieved by Mei Fu Chi in Wimbledon in 1959.

After defeating Portugese player Nuno Borges in the second round, Wu was beaten 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 by Russia’s Daniil Medvedev in the next round.

4. He did not compete for two years due to injuries

After making his ATP debut as a wildcard at the 2017 Chengdu Open, before he notched his first win on tour in 2018 against Li Zhe at the Shanghai Masters, Wu suffered injuries that put him out of action for nearly two full years.

He was hit with injuries to his elbow, back, shoulder, and wrist. He underwent surgery in 2020 to have a piece of bone removed from his elbow.

From March 2019 to December 2021, he did not compete in any international competitions, playing in China’s domestic circuit from 2020 to 2021.

5. Started playing tennis to lose weight

When Wu was young, his parents worried that he might be overweight. His father, a boxer, knew a track and field coach at a training facility and he was sent to a badminton court to get some exercise.

When the badminton court’s nets proved too high, Wu went on to play tennis instead.

Wielding a racket that was almost as big as him, he did not take to tennis immediately. But by the age of 12, his potential was already being noticed by his coaches.

In December 2016, the 17-year-old reached the final of the 2016 Orange Bowl, a Grade A junior event.