Juncheng Shang to Play Third Round of 2024 Australian Open, Faces Youngest Rival Alcaraz

Shang received an invitation to play the 2024 Australian Open and it will be the first time in his career that he plays a third round in a major after beating the American Mackenzie McDonald and the Indian Nagal in previous rounds.

The 18-year-old began playing ATP rank competitions last year, at just 17 years old when he lost that second round of the Australian Open against the American Frances Tiafoe and obtained his best result in the Chicago tournament after falling in the semifinals. against Alex Michelsen.

The first rival younger than Alcaraz

Logically, the Asian tennis player has never faced Alcaraz in the past, so it will be an unprecedented duel between the only Chinese representative in the draw and the only Spaniard present in the third round.

Additionally, for the first time in the 200 professional matches that Alcaraz has played, he will face a tennis player younger than him.

Real Madrid fan and son of champions

Of the many curiosities that Juncheng Shang’s profile has, the first one that draws the most attention is that his nickname, ‘Jerry’, comes from the famous cat and mouse cartoons ‘Tom and Jerry’. This is how he explains it himself: “I think my parents thought I was smarter than Jerry the mouse.”

A self-confessed fan of Real Madrid, he also enjoys playing golf and running. He has Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic as idols and references, but his true idols are his parents.

His mother Na was a world table tennis champion, while his father Yi was a professional soccer player in the Chinese league. A family of champions who pushed his son to practice tennis when he was only 5 years old, because they thought it was the sport to which he could best adapt.

Sonego-Alcaraz: One step forward and Shang in the third round 4-6, 7-6(3), 3-6 and 6-7(3)

2024-01-19 22:18:39
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