While tennis might not be the biggest sport in China, it’s certainly one of the fastest-growing. It’s been present through ATP and WTA events for many years now, and while Chinese tennis success largely fell on the back of Li Na for the longest time, we’ve seen the men step up in recent times.
There is a new generation of players emerging from the country who are poised to do some great things in the coming years. We’re going to take a closer look at some of the top rated Chinese tennis players, highlighting how their careers have gone so far and what can be expected in the future.
1. Zhizhen Zhang
The top-ranked Chinese player right now is Zhizhen Zhang (image above), who is ranked No 41 as of September 2024. While he might not be the most talented of the bunch, Zhang has been around for many years. His rise to the top 100 has been a slow burn because he spent a couple of years on the Challenger Tour.
It wasn’t the worst thing that could happen because he gained lots of experience at the lower level, which he was able to use once he finally broke out. Getting here took a lot of work, and he mostly did it on clay. This isn’t a surface you’d expect a Chinese player to be good at, but he’s been based in Europe for many years now.
As far as his style goes, Zhang is a fairly capable baseliner who possesses tremendous power both in his serve and shots. He plays a very high-risk, high-reward shot-making style, which can be devastating on his best days. It’s why he boasts three wins against top 10 ranked players so far in his career, besting Taylor Fritz, Casper Ruud, and Daniil Medvedev.
Other career highlights include winning a gold medal for China at the 2022 Asian Games and a silver medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in mixed doubles alongside Xinyu Wang. He has also contested one ATP final, though he wasn’t able to win it. Zhang’s career high to date is No 31, achieved early in 2024, so his future is certainly bright.
He’s only 27, so he’ll be a good player for quite a few more years, hoping to finally win a trophy and achieve more success while representing China.
2. Juncheng Shang
The most talented Chinese tennis player is undeniably Juncheng “Jerry” Shang, a 19-year-old prodigy who is expected to be a top 10 player one day. Shang has been touted as one of the biggest talents in tennis ever since he was a teenager, and so far, he’s backed it up pretty well.
His might not be a supernova rise like that of Carlos Alcaraz, but Shang has proved that he belongs, and the 2024 season has been his career-best so far. As of writing he is at No 51 in the rankings, a career-high that he’s bound to improve on before the end of the year.
Shang boasts a fairly aggressive baseline style, which is notable for most Chinese players. There isn’t much philosophy there; it’s attack, attack, and attack a bit more. Shang is a lefty and has a really solid technique from all sides, including the serve, which makes him very tough to deal with. He’s somewhat raw, which is expected for a 19-year-old, but this is a player who is largely expected to be in the top 10 sometime in the future.
He’s by far the most talented player to come out of China in many years, and now it’s about backing it up. He’s had some signature performances, such as pushing Casper Ruud to five sets at the US Open recently, as well as winning his maiden ATP Trophy in Chengdu. Interestingly, Shang has never lost a final since turning professional, having a 5-0 record across all levels.
He did lose the 2021 US Open junior finals, though, but he’ll be hoping to get a shot at winning the proper one sometime in the future. The potential is there to be one of the best Chinese tennis players.
3. Bu Yunchaokete
Another player that has been rising recently is Bu Yunchaokete. He is fairly young at 22 years old, even though he boasts a tremendous amount of experience due to the amount of tennis he’s played over the years. For example, he played 105 matches in 2022.
Much like Zhang, he’s a player who worked his way up from the Challenger Tour. There, he dominated, making five finals and winning three to improve his ranking dramatically. This year has been his best by far, playing some ATP events due to his ranking improving. He took his chance immediately, making a semi-final at the China Open recently, barely losing to Jannik Sinner.
That match proved that he certainly belongs at the top, and he’s now No 69 in the world, which is the best ranking he’s ever had. It will likely increase by the end of the year, especially with more ATP events coming up for him, but at 22, there is no rush for Bu, as he’s got plenty of tennis ahead of him.
He doesn’t play as aggressively as some other Chinese players, boasting a more precise than powerful game. However, he still has the same signature strengths as the rest, with a solid serve and good forehand. He holds a 1-2 record against top 10 ranked players, earning his first win against Andrey Rublev recently. Overall, another one to look out for in the future.
4. Yibing Wu
A name that might be somewhat forgotten is Yibing Wu, the first Chinese player to ever win an ATP Trophy.
Wu is a tremendously talented player who has had a rather bizarre career trajectory so far. His career has been decimated by injuries, which have cut short a couple of really promising runs. The best one came in 2022 when he got very close to the top 100, eventually breaking through in 2023.
The story was similar to other players, as he made his name on the Challenger Tour first before breaking out in a major way on the ATP Tour. The 2023 season was by far his best one, as he won the Dallas Open that year, which was the first time a Chinese player won an ATP trophy.
He would continue playing well for the rest of the year, but unfortunately, another injury occurred, so he didn’t play for much of 2024. A return happened recently, and immediately, he made an impact by winning a Challenger event.
Wu has a win over Taylor Fritz, which is his only top 10 win, but he pushed some other players pretty closely, notably Daniil Medvedev at the US Open and Carlos Alcaraz recently in Shanghai. He’s another aggressive baseliner with a powerful serve and a good forehand.
A 1-0 record in ATP finals and a 5-2 record in Challenger finals shows that we’re talking about a really solid player who belongs in the top 10 when fully healthy, but that’s been a question mark so far. He’s currently ranked No 560, but if he remains healthy and keeps playing well, that will change swiftly.
At 24 years old, he certainly has a bright future provided he stays healthy.
5. Yi Zhou
The final player we have to mention is 19-year-old Yi Zhou, who has a lot of promise, even though he hasn’t really broken out yet. He’s had some solid performances this year, which indicates that he’s likely to make that jump sometime in the future.
He still needs to improve and gather more experience, but having a chance to represent China in the Davis Cup certainly showed that he’s got the full backing of the Federation. Recent performances in Asia showed that he can hang with some of the best, as he won sets against top 100 ranked players such as Adrian Mannarino and Pavel Kotov.
The future is certainly bright, and while there aren’t many highlights right now, and he’s not even ranked in the top 400, he can certainly do some damage in the future. Much like his compatriots, he plays a very baseline-centric style, which is what you need in today’s tennis.
He has a solid serve, but due to the low number of matches played against the pros, he lacks the experience needed to win matches at the highest level.
With time, the 19-year-old Zhou is certainly a player that has the potential to make some headlines.
What player did we miss? Let us know in the comment section below!
