Michael Chang

Michael Te Pei Chang (張德培;
Pinyin: Zhang|Zhāng ; 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 his tremendous speed and strong
determination, Chang was one the best Tennis
Defensive baseliner of
all time and stayed in the Top 10 in the
Association_of_Tennis_Professionals|ATP for
several years, with a career best at No. 2. He has
a Chinese heritage and therefore was extremely
popular in Asia. At that time, there were no Asian
players in the 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 (tennis)|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.

For much of his career Chang was coached by his
older brother Carl, 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.

==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.

(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.)

==Grand Slam Finals==

===Wins (1)===

Year Championship Opponent in
Final Score in Final
1989 French Open Stefan Edberg
6-1, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2

===Runner-ups (3)===

Year Championship Opponent in
Final Score in Final
1995 French Open Thomas Muster
7-5, 6-2, 6-4
1996 Australian Open Boris Becker
6-2, 6-4, 2-6, 6-2
1996 US Open Pete Sampras
6-1, 6-4, 7-6