It’s not often that a player outside the world’s top 1000 makes headlines across the tennis world.
However, over the weekend, No.1104 Hyeon Chung won the Bali ITF15 tournament, his first title in over five years.
Why was this significant?
Well, at the start of 2018, Chung looked destined to be at the top of the game before cruel injuries took over.
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The world at his feet
At the inaugural Next Gen Finals in 2017, the line-up was stacked with many of today's top players.
Andrey Rublev, Daniil Medvedev, Karen Khachanov and Borna Ćorić were present with Frances Tiafoe and Stefanos Tsitsipas as alternates.
But it was Chung who took out the first-ever edition, beating Rublev in the final.
Just two months later at the Australian Open, Chung went on a giant-killing run all the way to the semi-finals.
He defeated fourth-seed Alexander Zverev in the third-round, Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the fourth-round and Tennys Sandgren in the quarters.
Roger Federer stopped his run when Chung had to retire due to "blister under blister under blister".
The then 21-year-old followed that up with back-to-back quarter-finals at the Masters events in Indian Wells and Miami to enter the top 20 at world No.19.
Injuries halt his rise
Unfortunately, a litany of injuries to his ankle and back kept him out of the game for long periods of 2018.
"I had good results this season. However, I do feel some disappointment as I was not able to take care of my body due to injury," Chung said at the end of 2018.
He also told reporters he woke up constantly at night with back pain, but was hopeful of an injury-free 2019.
It wasn’t to be, as he played just nine tournaments that season, including his last event win at the Chengdu Challenger.
His ranking fell outside the top 100 and after just playing a handful of tournaments in 2020, he disappeared from the game entirely.
A singles comeback was touted in 2023 where he played his first singles match in over two years.
Despite the loss at the time, Chung was just grateful to get through a match unscathed.
"I would like to give myself credit for finishing the match without any injuries or soreness," he said.
Sadly, that would not last, with Chung hanging up the racket three months later with injuries taking their toll yet again.
A comeback for good this time?
In September last year, he took the court for his latest comeback, but this time, he may just be back for good.
He has played seven straight tournaments with no retirements and finally tasted victory in Bali on the weekend.
He only dropped one set all week (to Aussie Chase Ferguson in the semi-finals) and defeated top seed Antoine Escoffier in the quarter-finals.
Escoffier, who is ranked No.207, is playing in Australian Open qualifying this week.
In the Bali final, Chung comfortably dispatched Britain's Giles Hussey 6-1 6-2.
With points earned at ITF tournaments delayed a week for the official ATP rankings, we won’t know how far he has climbed quite yet.
It is, however, estimated to be almost 300 places to around 820 in the world.
This will be his highest ranking in two and a half years.
Will this comeback see him back at the top of the game? It’s unlikely, but anything is possible in the sport.
But at 28-years-old, there is still much tennis left in Hyeon Chung if he can stay healthy.
And playing without injury for a season may just be his biggest victory yet.
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