Legendary American tennis players: Part Two – Tennis Special
Michael Chang
Youngest ever Grand Slam winner, Michael Chang, won his first Major title in 1989 at the French Open. He was the first player of the Asian ethnicity to achieve that mark but he proved his greatnes since the start of his tennis
career. He has a classic history of being the top player throughout the 90’s and has brought home great laurels.
At the start of his career in 1987, Chang was the youngest player at the age of 15 years, to win the main draw match at the US Open and in the same year, he won the Las Vega Challenger. In 1989, at the age of 17 years, he was the
first underdog at Roland Garros since Tony Trabert in 1955.After that point, his career took a flying start, helping him achieve the world number fifth and grabbed the title of being the youngest player in the top 5.
In the year 1990, he battled in all the matches with a fractured hip and reached the quarterfinals in Tokyo. He displayed a remarkable performance at the French Open. In the same year, he defeated all the top-notch players of the
time that includes his compatriot, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, claiming his title at the Canadian Open. He also rendered his valuable contribution for United States and helped to improve the rankings at the Davis Cup.
In the year 1993, he won five titles from the seven finals he contested. He displayed his superior game plan at the tennis courts for the tournaments in Asia and finished his second year by winning World Championship. In the 1995,
Chang successfully battled to the final of the first ATP World Tour Championship and clinched his second titles in tournaments at Hong Kong, Atlanta and Beijing.
He joined Pete Sampras and Goran Ivanisevic in the top 10 players list on the ATP Tour for fifth straight year in 1996. He confidently played in his first US Open final and landed on the world number two spot.
He manifested at classic winning streak in 1998 and stretched his title for 11 straight years. He won the first position at Boston and Shanghai but his game declined when he was plagued with a left knee and right wrist injury.
However, he struggled hard to sustain his superior run of form and joined his fellow citizen, Agassi, and became one of the only players to celebrate their triumph for three different decades. In 2000, he reached in the finals
in Auckland and semi-finals of Atlanta. In 2001, he played for the 15th time at the US Open but lost in the first round. He received a miserable setback and unfortunately, he was forced to retire from the match.
In the year 2002, the American right-hander, slipped out of the world top 100 for the first time in his tennis career. He successfully compiled his 7-18 match record in the year. The same year, he played his 55th Grand
Slam Championship amongst all the active participants but was not capable to secure any decent rankings. One of his last matches was the ATP event in Tokyo, where he initially he defeated Francisco Javier Clavet González but later lost at the hands of the
Aussie, Lleyton Hewitt. He finished his outstanding career after his defeat at the US Open.
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