Hong Kong trailblazer Wong eyes Paris breakthrough

Third time lucky

The firsts roll around frequently and after reaching the final round of qualifying at Roland-Garros on Wednesday, he stands poised to add a main draw appearance in Paris to that list of Hong Kong firsts.

“I mean, I didn't win a match before here. I played twice and this is my third time,” Wong told rolandgarros.com. “But yeah, this is my second win now in Roland and it means a lot to me. It means a lot for Hong Kong, as well.”

While his home city doesn't fall in the easiest of time zones to follow the season’s second major being six hours ahead, Wong has no doubt sleep would not have been an option for his parents during his 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 victory over Czechia’s Zdenek Kolar.

The fourth seed roared in delight after he hammered a final ace to seal a showdown against Spain’s Juan Carlos Prado Angelo.

His father, Bruce – a school principal – and mother Dora – a teacher – would not have missed it for the world.

“They're watching every match, they're always here for me, no matter I win or lose,” Wong said. “There's a live stream in Hong Kong now, so they could watch me.”

A chance student of the game as a child after filling in for his sister Elana’s tennis lesson when she fell ill, Wong’s passion for the sport was built on hard courts.

It made sense it would be the surface he had already achieved his most significant results.

A boys’ doubles champion at the US and Australian Opens, he last year qualified for his maiden Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows where his unexpected run continued to the third round before he fell to 15th seed Andrey Rublev in five sets.

This season, he became the first player from Hong Kong to win an ATP Challenger title in Jiujiang, China – also on hard courts.

Clay courts were difficult to find back home. Needless to say, it was not a surface on which he quickly found his feet.

“No there weren’t many, not many,” he said. “Oh, I struggled a lot on clay before and now I’ve managed to get some wins against clay players, so it means a lot.”

An avid Rafael Nadal fan growing up, it was entirely unexpected to a promising teenager living in Hong Kong that he would one day move to the Spanish great’s academy to take the next step in his professional journey.

After joining the academy as a 16-year-old, the now 21-year-old has since practised with Nadal “quite a bit”, among a host of top players based there.

It has worked wonders for his claycourt game too as he closes on a top-100 debut.

Already the highest-ranked Asian player under the age of 25, Wong wears his status as a badge of honour given his continent’s relative lack of successful men’s players compared to the women.

“It means a lot because to be honest in Asia, we don't have many players before for the last few years, and before maybe it's Nishikori,” he said.

“Kei is who we look up to, you know, all the Asian players. We want to look up to him, look up to Randy Lu [Lu Yen-hsun]. They worked so hard to be there and I talk quite a lot with them to learn from them because they're amazing, they're machines.”

Trips home remain a priority, despite the nomadic nature of professional tennis.

There was one thing in particular he missed most about the bustling Asian hub overlooking Victoria Harbour.

“The food. My friends, my family, they always say, ‘Oh are you not bored of Asian food?’ I'm like never,” he laughed.

“The Hong Kong Cantonese style, it's different. It just hits different.”