US Open winner Coleman Wong says he wasn’t sure he could even make it through qualifying before sealing grand slam title
- The 17-year-old is delighted more Hong Kong people know about him and his sport after grand slam triumph
- Wong to local athletes: ‘Everyone has thought of giving up but you need to believe, like I do. You will get your chance’
Hong Kong tennis star Coleman Wong Chak-lam made history by becoming the first player from the city to win a boys’ doubles grand slam at the US Open, but he was not even sure he was going to make it through qualifying.
The 17-year-old and doubles partner Max Westphal forced their way into the final having played deciders in almost every preceding match.
“It really wasn’t easy. We didn’t even know if we could get into the draw at first because I lost in the singles qualifying through a super tiebreak. We got into the draw and already our first match went to a super tiebreak. But we kept going, kept motivating each other – ‘just one point, just focus for 10 minutes, we can do it’, he told the Post ahead of training with the Hong Kong representative team at the Davis Cup in Jordan.
Then followed the waves of support for five-time ITF junior circuit singles winner Wong, who now boasts career high ATP singles and doubles rankings, reasserting his status as the city’s most promising young tennis player.
