Oh boy! Teen tennis ace wins doubles glory for HK

Local tennis player Coleman Wong Chak-lam made history by lifting the US Open boys' doubles title in New York - a first for Hong Kong.

The 17-year-old Wong and his French partner, Max Westphal, upset No 7 seeds Viacheslav Bielinskyi of Ukraine and Petr Nesterov of Bulgaria in a thrilling tie-break 6-3, 5-7 [10-1].

Only losing the second point of the decider, Wong and his partner won the next nine in a row.

Wong, who attends Diocesan Boys' School, thanked Hong Kong for the support, especially the Tennis Association, which provided him with a coach for three months.

"I'm so thankful to my supporters from Hong Kong," he said.

"I played five games this week and it was brisk so I had to play a tiebreak in every match. All my opponents have excellent skills.

"I would also like to thank the Tennis Association for assigning a coach to me and who accompanied me these three months.

"I'm so happy that I could win the championship, despite not having joined competitions for more than a year, and couldn't perform well afterward."

His father, Wong Yuet-ming, said his son was sad after losing out in the boys' singles to American Kyle Kang in the qualifying match.

Wong will compete in the Davis Cup qualifiers of the Asian and Oceania Groups in Amman, Jordan, on Wednesday.

Wong first played tennis when he was five.

His father, a primary school principal who is a tennis enthusiast, found a professional coach for Wong' s elder sister but she had to be absent from the tennis lesson.

Wong stood in for his sick sister, and has loved tennis ever since.

Wong started competing at six and was already capable of joining adult games at the age of 14.

Former tennis professional Tong Ka-po, who was Wong's coach, said the boy had signed with global sports management company International Management Group. The Tennis Association had assigned him a Spanish coach for one-on-one training.

Wong's father said the family supports Wong if he wants to be a professional player, even though he has to give up his studies for a while.

Tennis Association chief Philip Mok Kwan-yat described Wong's win as beyond expectations.

"His performance in singles is very good, but competitions in Asia were halted after the outbreak of Covid. He didn't participate in competitions for a long time," Mok said.

"Our plan is to try to claim a Grand Slam in singles next year, which is definitely possible for him."

Mok said Wong reached his peak in the US Open after joining different competitions since May, including Wimbledon and the French Open.

"I hope other young players can be encouraged by Coleman, and win glory for Hong Kong, proving that Hong Kong athletes are capable," Mok said.

It had been 37 years since the first Hong Kong player, Patricia Hy-Boulais, won a Grand Slam title in girls' doubles at Wimbledon in 1983. Kester Ng and Rolf Harrison reached the semifinals in Junior Wimbledon boys' doubles in 1985.

Mok said many of the junior players got good results in recent years. The association's next step is to promote the ranking of professional players.

He hoped that more people could be encouraged by Wong and join tennis to promote professionalization of sports.

Mok also hoped the government could build more tennis facilities, such as adding covers to existing tennis courts, or a stadium similar to the proposed fencing stadium.

eunice.lam@singtaonewscorp.com