By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
For years as Chinese women started to decorate the Top 100 rankings on the WTA Tour, many asked where the Chinese men were in the ATP Rankings. This question is now slowly being put to bed as increasing number of male players in China have made strides in men’s tennis.
The latest to make their mark is Yunchaokete Bu.
Bu will be the fourth man from China to compete in the men’s singles at the U.S. Open in 2024 after he dramatically advanced through the tournament’s qualifying rounds. Trailing by a service break in the final set against former Australian Open semifinalist Aslan Karatsev of Russia 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the final round of qualifying, Bu persisted to reach the main draw at the Grand Slam for the first time in his career.
The No. 123-ranked Bu will also join countryman Jerry Shang, who is also making his main draw debut at the U.S. Open, but qualifying directly into the 128-player men’s singles field. Zhizhen Zhang of China, who made his U.S. Open debut in 2022, is also in the 2024 U.S. Open field.
At the 2022 U.S. Open, Wu Yibing became the first player from China to win a main draw singles match at a Grand Slam tournament in the Open era when he beat No. 31 seed Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 in the U.S. Open first round Wu, absent from the U.S. Open this year, was ranked No. 174 at the time in 2022 and advanced into the main draw by winning three qualifying matches. He was also the first Chinese man to win a match at the U.S. Championships since Cheng Guy in 1935.
Read more about the 2022 breakthrough and history of Chinese men here
Bu has quite an interesting background as he was born and raised in humble beginnings in Bortala Mongolian autonomous prefecture in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, deep in the western part of China that borders Kazakhstan and, historically, has been a Muslim area of China. Bu defeated current top star Holger Rune of Denmark in the second round of the Australian Open junior championships in 2019, before a should injury and COVID stalled his career.
Bu said his fellow Chinese pros Wu and Zheng have been very encouraging and have helped him have the confidence in himself to make it to the highest level of pro tennis.
“They give me a lot of confidence because I didn’t think I could be top 50 or something, but now they’re close so I feel I can make it also,” he said. “We have a good relationship, we text a lot.”
Zhang was the first Chinese to crack the men’s top 100 and was the first player from China to reach the men’s third round at Roland Garros. He also reached the quarterfinals of an ATP Masters tournament for the first time in Madrid.
