Min Lee

Asian Men Need Better Tennis Coaching: Ex-World No. 2

Hong Kong. Michael Chang says Asian men need better coaching to match the success of their female compatriots in the top echelons of professional tennis.

While there are eight Asian women among the world’s top 100 — led by China’s Li Na at No. 15 — the highest-ranked Asian man is Taiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun at No. 96.

Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand, who was Asia’s most promising male player several years ago with a career-high No. 9 ranking and five singles titles to his credit, has long been sidelined with a wrist injury and has major doubts over whether he’ll ever return to the tour.

Chang, the Chinese-American former world No. 2 and 1989 French Open champion, said on Wednesday the disparity was due to coaching, using China as an example. Besides Li, two other Chinese women — Zheng Jie and Peng Shuai — are in the top 100, but the country has not produced a top-flight male player.

“That’s what really seems to be the more difficult aspect, to have the men break through and challenge the best players in the world,” Chang told journalists in Hong Kong by telephone from the United States to promote a Hong Kong exhibition tournament in January.

“It’s not that easy for some of these players in China to get the coaching they need. Nearly all of these Chinese girls that have had success have had coaching from foreign coaches.”

Chang himself previously coached China’s Peng.

Chang will play in the Jan. 6 to 9 Hong Kong Tennis Classic, an exhibition tournament that will mix retired male players and active female players.

Other stars in the field include Paradorn, Stefan Edberg, Marat Safin, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka and Vera Zvonareva.

Associated Press

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