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Michael Te Pei Chang (???; Pinyin: Zhang Dépéi; born
February 22, 1972, in Hoboken, New Jersey) is a former professional tennis
player from the United States. He is best remembered for becoming the youngest-ever
male winner of a Grand Slam singles title when he won the French Open in
1989 as an unseeded player.
Utilizing tremendous speed and strong determination, Chang
was one of the best counterpunchers of all time and remained in the Top 10
in the ATP world rankings for several years in the 1990s, peaking at World
No. 2. He is of Chinese heritage, and therefore was extremely popular in
Asia. At that time, there were no other Asian players among tennis' higher
ranks.
Tennis Career
Chang first came to the tennis world's attention as a brilliant
junior player who set numerous "youngest-ever" records. He won
his first national title, the USTA Junior Hard Court singles, at the age
of 12. At age 13, he won the Fiesta Bowl 16s.
In 1987, aged 15, Chang won the USTA Boys 18s Hardcourts
and the Boys 18s Nationals, and became the youngest player to win a main
draw match at the US Open when he defeated Paul McNamee in four sets in the
first round. A month later he reached the semi-finals at Scottsdale, Arizona
to become the youngest player to reach the semi-final stage of a top-level
professional tournament. He won his first top-level singles title in 1988
at San Francisco, aged 16 years and 7 months.
Chang's most significant youngest-ever record came in 1989
when he won the French Open at the age of 17 years and 3 months, to become
the youngest male player ever to win a Grand Slam title. He defeated Stefan
Edberg in a memorable five-set final, winning 6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. His
victory is equally remembered for an epic five-set encounter with Ivan Lendl
in the fourth round (see below). Chang became the first American man to win
the French Open since 1955. And in August 1989, Chang became the youngest
player to be ranked in the world's top-five on the men's singles rankings.
(Chang's success marked the start of an era in which a new generation of
American players – which also included Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and
Andre Agassi – would come to dominate the game.)
Chang had another famous match against Edberg in the semi-finals
of the US Open in 1992. This time Edberg won in a five-set encounter 7-6,
5-7, 6-7, 7-5, 4-6. The 5-hour, 26-minute marathon match was the longest
in US Open history.
Chang reached three further Grand Slam finals after his famous
1989 French Open triumph – losing the 1995 French Open final to Thomas
Muster, the 1996 Australian Open final to Boris Becker, and the 1996 US Open
final to Pete Sampras.
Chang was a member of the US team which won the Davis Cup
in 1990, beating Australia in the final. He was also on the US team which
won the World Team Cup in 1993.
Chang was introduced to tennis by his father Joe, who was
his first coach. For much of his professional career, he was coached by his
older brother Carl Chang, who also played in several doubles tournaments
with him in the early-1990s.
Chang retired from the professional tour in 2003. During
his career, he won a total of 34 top-level professional singles titles. His
final top-level title was won in 2000 at Los Angeles. His total career prize-money
earnings was US$19,145,632. His career-high singles ranking was World No.
2 in 1996.
[edit]
The Classic Match vs Ivan Lendl (French Open, 1989)
Michael Chang's most famous match took place on the way to
winning the French Open title in 1989. In the fourth round, he faced the
World No. 1 and three-time former champion Ivan Lendl. Conventional wisdom
made Lendl the heavy favourite to win the match against the 17-year-old Chang.
Everything seemed to be going to expectation when Lendl comfortably
took the first two sets 6-4, 6-4, and then broke Chang's serve in the opening
game of the third set. Then Chang's fight-back began. He broke back immediately
and went on to claim the third set 6-3. Part way through the fourth set,
Chang experienced a severe attack of leg cramp. Fighting to stay in the match,
Chang resorted to some novel tactics. For a period he began taking all speed
out of the match by playing "moon balls", and he wolfed down bananas
and drinks at every opportunity. Lendl, who was known to be one of the least
easily fazed players to grace the court, completely lost his rhythm. He began
to swear at the umpire and the crowd, especially after losing a key point
in the fifth set when Chang shocked him by delivering an under-arm serve.
Chang later explained, "I was trying to break his concentration. I would
do anything to stay out there."
Barely able to stand, and screaming with pain after many
of his shots, Chang continued to battle on. Despite being on the verge of
physical breakdown, he fought his way into the position of a 5-3 lead in
the fifth set with two match points on Lendl's serve. Aiming to break Lendl's
concentration one more time, Chang stood well inside the baseline, almost
at the T-line in the centre of the court while waiting to receive Lendl's
serve (normally an almost suicidal position when facing an opponent's serve).
The tactic worked as Lendl produced a double-fault to give Chang victory.
Chang won one of the most memorable matches in tennis history 4-6, 4-6, 6-3,
6-3, 6-3 in four hours and 37 minutes. Chang sank to his knees and broke
down in tears at the conclusion of the match. Seven days later he would go
on to become the youngest male champion in French Open history. [1]
(Note: Chang and Lendl played another similarly-exciting
match in the semi-finals of the 1991 Grand Slam Cup, where Chang again came
back from two sets down and won 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6, 9-7.)
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