Chung Hyeon wins third title this year

Chung Hyeon, the former world no. 19 from South Korea, has won his third title of the 2025 season, defeating Tayuka Kumasaka 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 to win the ITF M15 event in Tsukuba, Japan. This latest victory will see Chung enter the world's top 500 in the ATP rankings for the first time since June 2022, having been ranked as low as no. 1107 in January this year.

Chung Hyeon speaks after his loss to Li Tu at the Seoul Challenger in November.

Chung made a return to the professional circuit in September last year, having made several failed attempts to come back after a series of injuries over the last few years. At first, his results were not particularly promising, winning just 3 out of 9 matches played in ITF Tour and ATP Challenger Tour events in 2024. He also entered the Australian Open Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-off in November, but lost his opening match. Chung eventually settled for playing events on the ITF Tour, which is the lowest tier of professional tennis. He didn't have much choice in that regard, as his ranking was too low to enter ATP Challenger events directly and there was a lack of wild cards on offer.

This season, however, has seen Chung's fortunes change significantly for the better. The Korean started off the year winning the ITF M25 title in Bali, and followed that up by finishing runner-up at M25 Luan, and then winning two M15 titles in Nishi-Tokyo and Tsukuba, respectively. He now has an incredible record of 22 wins and 3 losses this year, including very respectable straight-sets victories over players such as Antoine Escoffier, Bai Yan and Hsu Yu-hsiou, who are ranked near the world's top 200 and play regularly on the ATP Challenger Tour.

I wrote back in October about Chung's first match back at Challenger level, one in which he really struggled and lost easily in straight sets. I questioned whether he had the will and the fitness to be able to grind it out on the ITF Tour and build up his ranking, which is what he really needed to do. Chung has answered that emphatically with his performances this year, which have brought his ranking high enough to have the chance to enter Challenger qualifying events; more importantly, it seems his body has been holding up well. The latest run in Tsukuba means he has reached the final in three consecutive events.

So what is next for Chung? He's still on the entry list for the M15 tournament in Kashiwa, which begins next week. However, he might be forgiven for pulling out of that event and taking a rest, given that he has played for three consecutive weeks. Coming up in April are two ATP Challenger events in Korea (Busan and Gwangju) for which he will surely receive wildcard entries. His performances there could be just the springboard he needs to start playing regularly on the ATP Challenger Tour once again. Whatever happens, many of us will be following the former Australian Open semifinalist with great anticipation.