On the ATP World Tour, the amount of points you earn determine your ranking on the tours. However, it doesn't matter how you accumulate those points, just that you have them. For instance, you could get 90 points for making the Semifinals of an ATP 250 event, or you could try to win a $75,000 dollar challenger to get those 90 points. But, under this system, it doesn't matter how you get the points, only that you get them.
This brings me to Hyeon Chung This 19 year old South Korean is quickly rising in the rankings, and is currently number 74 in the world. Chung is heralded by the media, among others, as a "next generation" player, ready to take over once the Big Four + Stan Wawrinka decide to put away their rackets for good. However, the paths that Hyeon has taken is not allowing him to maximize his abilities. Let me explain.
Hyeon Chung burst onto the scene not for who he beat, but rather for how much he won. Over the course of a three tournament span, Chung won 14 of 15 matches and won two of the three tournaments. In fact, Hyeon only dropped four sets and went 12 straight matches without dropping a set. From the beginning of 2015 until now, Chung won three tournaments and made the Final of an additional two tournaments.
So, you might be asking yourself, "How come this kid hasn't rose to the Top Ten yet?" The answer lies in what type of tournament Chung is playing in. On the ATP World Tour, excluding special tournaments (Olympics, ATP Finals, etc.), there are six levels of tournaments. The lowest level of is on the ATP Futures Tour, with point values for tournament winners ranging from 18 to 35 points. Next is the ATP Challenger Tour, with point values for winners ranging from 80 to 125 points. ATP 250 winners get 250 points, ATP 500 champions get 500 points, Masters 1000 winners get 1000 points, and Grand Slam champions get 2000 points.
Hyeon Chung has played in the main draw in 12 tournaments this year. 10 of those 12 tournaments have been ATP Challenger Tour matches, with another only being an ATP 250 tournament. The 12th tournament Chung played in the main draw was when he received a wild card into Miami in March. As a result, Hyeon has not challenged himself against some of the upper-echelon players in the men's game, and is therefore not ready for the struggles that playing at tennis' highest level brings.
To show this more fully, it is important to note that Hyeon Chung's best win is a three-set win over Marcel Granollers, who is only six spaces ahead of him in the rankings. Chung only has had two matches against others players in the Top 50 (Berdych and Verdasco) and did not win a set in either of the matches. Hyeon has also never qualified for a major, and has a pedestrian 3-3 record at major qualifying, along with a two game losing streak at these major qualifying events. In addition, Chung has never actually qualified for a tournament bigger than an ATP 250 event and never won over two non-qualifying matches.
Despite Chung's rise in the rankings this year, it is quite apparent that he is still struggling to even qualify and win matches on the main tour, that he would realize that he actually has to consistently play main tour players in order to succeed at that level. You have to play other guys in 250 and 500 events if you want to beat them and not expect to show up to the occasional ATP World Tour event expecting to succeed. And given that Chung has had a lot of success in challengers since around this time last year, it is certainly time to make the leap. Chung might take a dip in the rankings at first, after all he won't have these easier challenger points to win, bur in the long run, battling tougher players will, in turn, toughen up Chung's game.
So, it was definitely encouraging to see that Chung attempted to qualify for s'Hertogenbosch instead of playing in the numerous challengers this week. It would have been easy for Chung to sign up for Surbiton, Prague, Moscow, or Caltanissetta and try to pick up some quick points. After all, Caltanissetta is a worth the maximum amount of points for a challenger event, at 125 points. Instead, Chung decided to put himself out there by not only trying to qualify for a grass tournament, in which he has never played a match before in his professional career, but also chose to attempt to play in a 250 instead of the grass challenger (Surbiton). And while Hyeon lost in straight sets to Nicholas Monroe, playing in this event showed that Chung was serious about rising on the ATP World Tour.
An interesting case study to compare Hyeon Chung to is Thanasi Kokkinakis. Kokkinakis is also 19 years old and is slightly ahead of Chung, at number 69 in the world. Kokkinakis' schedule is the antithesis of Chung's schedule. In 2015, Kokkinakis has played ten ATP World Tour events and only one challenger (which he won). This includes winning at least one match in both the Australian Open and the French Open, where he actually made it to the Round of 32. Another great tournament for Kokkinakis was when he made the Round of 16 at Indian Wells, beating tough veterans like Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Juan Monaco in the process. What might be Thanasi's greatest feat, however, is how he's qualified every tournament he attempted to qualify for this year and has not had a losing streak this year of greater than two matches. Kokkinakis is proving that, as a teenager attempting to make it on tour, playing mostly ATP World Tour matches with the occasional challenger or two thrown in there is the best course of action for young players.
Perhaps it is even a good thing that Chung is on a three match losing streak right now, the longest losing streak he's had since another three game losing streak ending in January. This small losing streak can be a wake up call for Chung without seriously damaging his ranking. Chung needed to realize that playing as many challenger matches as he has played will not lead to automatic wins. Hyeon needed to see that the challenger tour will only take him so far and that the main tour must be the next step, and quickly. That's not to say that his last two losses were not especially embarrassing. After all, Hyeon only won one game against Jared Donaldson and the previously mentioned straight set loss to Nicholas Monroe, doesn't even have a singles ranking on the ATP website at the time I was writing this article. But, as more players hear about Chung's game and figure him out, Chung will need to adapt as well. And this adaptability can only successfully occur on the main tour. Hey, if Thanasi can do it, then so can Hyeon.
Hyeon Chung's schedule has not allowed him to make the most of his abilities so far. However, if his appearance in s'Hertogebbosch is any indication of his future plans, then Chung is certainly on the right track
*Note: this post focuses exclusively on ranking points on the ATP Tour and not the WTA Tour.
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