Jerry Shang

Five Months After Mardy Fish Win In Vero Beach, Jerry Shang Competes With World’s Best At The Miami Open

Randy Walker · March 24, 2022 · Leave a Comment

From the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships at The Boulevard to the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium.

That’s the journey that 17-year-old Jerry Shang has taken in matter of just five months.

The 2021 singles champion at Vero Beach’s annual $15,000 U.S. Tennis Association Pro Circuit ITF World Tennis Tour tournament in October, Shang received a “wild card” entry into one of the biggest tennis tournaments in the world, where his name was placed in the same singles draw as current greats Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andy Murray among many others.

Shang drew former U.S. Olympian Denis Kudla, the world No. 81, in the first round and in a topsy-turvy battle that last two minutes shy of three hours, Shang was defeated 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-4 on Wednesday, night March 23.

Shang dazzled many times through the match, edging out a first-set tiebreaker, and actually served for the match at 5-4 in the second set. Nerves, naturally, set in for the young player on the cusp of the biggest win in his fledging pro career, as missed first serves and errors littered his efforts. Kudla won five games in a row to not only take the second set, but lead by a break 2-0 in the third set. Kudla, a veteran 29-year-old player who reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2015, appeared to hold the momentum in the match and seemed poised to win an easy win in the third set. However, Shang remained determined and won four games in a row to serve at 4-3 in the final set, again at the doorstep at a big first-round win. Nerves, and a resilient Kudla, took hold again as Kudla was able to reel off the last three games of the match.

Since he beat Ricardo Rodriguez in the final of the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championship in the event’s special “October edition” at The Boulevard as a player ranked No. 1041, Shang has improved his ATP singles ranking to No. 441 while playing events on the $15,000 and $25,000 level on the ITF World Tennis Tour event, as well as Challengers and ATP Tour events. He played his first ATP Tour level evet in Rio de Janiero in February, losing to world No. 62 Pedro Martinez 6-3, 6-4. After winning the $15,000 event in Naples, Florida, He won two qualifying matches against two top 150-ranked players (No. 100 Francisco Cerundolo and No. 128 Mats Moraing) to reach the main draw of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells before losing to No. 99 Jaume Munar of Spain.

Shang’s recent results would indicate that he has now moved beyond playing in $15,000 events like Vero Beach, the lowest level of professional tennis. However, if Shang is unable to gain entries in Challenger-level events this April, a return trip to Vero Beach could be in the cards. The 2022 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships will be held April 25-May 1 at The Boulevard. For ticket, box seat and sponsorship information, go to www.MardyFishChildrensFoundation.org.

Jerry Shang (far side) and Denis Kudla at the Miami Open

Sixteen-year-old Jerry Shang Wins 2021 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships

Randy Walker · October 25, 2021 · Leave a Comment

Youth prevailed over experience when 16-year-old Shang Juncheng of China, the No. 1 junior player in the world, defeated No. 3 seed Ricardo Rodriguez, a 28-year-old tour veteran from Venezuela, to capture the $15,000 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships title with a 7-6 (6), 6-4 win on Sunday.

The victory at The Boulevard Tennis Club marked the third pro title for the Chinese teen at an International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Tennis Tour event, which is also part of the U.S. Tennis Association Pro Circuit tournament.

Shang, who currently ranks No. 1008 on the ATP computer, impressively won his first pro event at a $15,000 event in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and again at the same level event in Naples, Florida just last week. He will move inside the top 900 in the world by earning 10 ATP singles ranking points with the tournament victory.

“It feels really good for me,” Shang said after victory. “I’m really happy especially these last two weeks which have been back-to-back wins. It’s really special for me to do in the pros. I’m playing really confident the last two weeks. I’m not thinking so much about the shots but just really going for it. And I’m really relaxed and finding a rhythm in my matches.”

Watch Shang’s post-match presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlqqP8-BaB8

The No. 613 ranked Rodriguez credited his opponent for a match well played.

“I think the key of the match was he was better than me at the important points,” Rodriguez said. “I had a set point in the first set, and I had a few break points, and he played them all well.

“Honestly, I have no regrets because generally I played a very professional match today that didn’t go my way.”

Watch Rodriguez’s post-match presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHrM9vQX9qE

The Beijing native, who goes by the name Jerry, lives with his father in the United States for the past five years, and currently trains at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.

Shang says he comes by his athletic prowess from his parents, who were both international sports stars in their sport of choice.

His father, Shang Yi, who sat court side watching the teen win the Vero Beach title, was a pro soccer midfielder who played for Beijing Guoan for most of his career. The elder Shang did play internationally – for Xerex in Spain – during the 2003-04 season. His most notable achievement in Spain was scoring a goal against Cadiz CF, a rival team of Xerex.

After retiring from soccer, Shang Yi became a commentator for the Beijing TV Sports Channel before accompanying his son to Florida.

His mother, Wu Na, who remains in Beijing and visits Florida, is a former international table tennis star. She won a bronze medal in singles and gold medal in mixed doubles in the 1997 World Table Tennis Championships, and a bronze medal at the same event in women’s doubles in 1995.

“My dad played football, soccer, and mom played table tennis so, for me, they chose a sport something in the middle,” said Shang, laughing. “They chose not the big ball though, but the small ball for me.”

Finding a path in tennis rather than either soccer or table tennis seems to have been a smart choice for Shang, which he proved again on Sunday.

The first set of the final was a nip-and-tuck affair that went down to a deciding tiebreaker.

Both players scored two mini-breaks by the time the score was 4-4 in the tiebreaker. Rodriguez missed out on the one set point he had at 6-5, and two points later mishit a forehand to allow Shang to notch the opening set.

Rodriguez also held a break point on Shang’s serve at 5-5 in the first set, but failed to take the advantage when he missed backhand return.

The two players, who actually warmed each other up just hours before the final, exchanged early service breaks in the second set.

At 3-3, Shang rallied to take a lasting lead in the second set. He set up a 15-40 break point opportunity with a winning forehand passing shot. He went on to break serve for a 4-3 lead with a backhand crosscourt winner.

Shang served out the 1 hour, 54 minute match at love, taking the title with a scorching forehand winner down the line.

At this point, Shang believes his junior days have come to a conclusion and he’ll be concentrating on playing these lower level pro events to work his way up the ATP rankings. His junior career climaxed this year with a quarterfinal showing at the French Open, semifinals at Wimbledon and final appearance at the US Open last month.

In the last 25 years, only two former junior world No. 1s – Roger Federer of Switzerland and Andy Roddick of the United States – went on to become world No. 1s on the main men’s ATP Tour.

Undoubtedly, Shang will be hoping to replicate Federer and Roddick’s feat of translating No. 1 status in the juniors to being the best player in the world. If he could achieve that distinction it certainly would make him a superstar back home in China.

While Li Na won two Grand Slam singles titles and reached a career high ranking of No. 2 in the world in the women’s game, no Chinese man has ever even journeyed into the top 100 in the men’s ATP rankings.

“I think that is a big goal because I’m only 16 right now,” Shang said. “But that’s something I’ll look for in the future hopefully, but it’s important to take one step at a time right now.”

Rodriguez believes the future ahead is very bright for Shang, who played a mature and structured match against him.

“What I experienced today was how good he manages important moments and how good he is that his pulse doesn’t shake whenever there are tight moments in the match,” Rodriguez said. “That makes him special, especially with his being so young.”

As Shang’s likely to discover when you’re a professional tennis player you learn to live a life where a different hotel room becomes where you live each week. Taking that into account, players tend to find tournaments they enjoy playing, a feeling which is often bolstered by having success at a locale.

That’s just what’s happened for Rodriguez, who has favored playing at Vero Beach, which is just a short road trip up I-95 from his home in Ft. Lauderdale.

This marked Rodriguez’s second time in the Mardy Fish tournament final. He lost out to Juan Benitez of Colombia 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 in the 2018 championship match.

In 2017, he reached the quarterfinals and last year he reached the quarterfinals of the UTR event hosted by Vero Beach tournament organizers.

“Ever since I came here for the first time, I think in 2017, you guys have treated me as one of you, as family,” Rodriguez said in a post-match on-court interview this week. “This is one of my favorite places to come and play. Whenever I do my schedule Vero is always a priority for me. You are one of my greatest friends.”

Rodriguez, who reached a career high ranking of No. 282 in June 2014, has been stalwart for Venezuela in Davis Cup, a high-level international team competition, during his career. He’s played in 18 Davis Cup ties since 2012 for a 22-9 record.

Most recently, Davis Cup provided Rodriguez with a special opportunity to play at the Westside Tennis Club in Forest Hills, NY, which hosted the prestigious US National/US Open for an overall 60 years (1915 to 1920 and 1924 through 1977).

In September, Venezuela lost to South Africa 4-0 in a World Group II Davis Cup tie that was hosted on neutral ground at Forest Hills.

“About a month ago I got the opportunity to play in Forest Hills and that was such a great experience for me,” Rodriguez said. I played 18 times Davis Cup but none of them in such an historic place. That’s little bit of the (payoff) for the hard work and sacrifice.”

In Saturday’s late doubles final, Florida Gator teammates Duarte Vale of Portugal and Johannes Ingildsen of Denmark defeated Ben Shelton, also a Florida Gator, and Liam Draxl of Canada and the University of Kentucky 6-3, 6-4.

Shang, Rodriguez To Play For Mardy Fish Singles Title

Randy Walker · October 24, 2021 · Leave a Comment

Jerry Shang of China, the world’s No. 1-ranked junior tennis player, booked his ticket into another ITF event final with a 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 6 seed Liam Draxl of Canada Saturday at The Boulevard Tennis Club..

“I feel like today I closed it out really well and I’m just happy to be in the final,” said Shang, who lives in Bradenton, Florida and trains at the IMG Academy. “I was growing up watching him (Draxl) play when I was around 13. He’s a great player. “I’m just playing really confident. I’ll hopefully be in the same place tomorrow.”

Shang will face Ricardo Rodriguez of Venezuela in Sunday’s 1 pm final. Rodriguez, the all-time leading Davis Cup player from Venezuela and the 2018 singles finalist at this event. defeated Ezekiel Clark of Tulsa, Oklahoma 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 in two hours and 31 minutes.

Shang’s top junior ranking on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) computer comes off of stellar results this year with appearances in the junior Roland Garros quarterfinal and Wimbledon semifinal, and was bolstered by his appearance in the recent US Open junior boys’ final where he lost to Daniel Rincon of Spain. Since then, Shang has won ITF World Tennis Tour titles in Fayetteville, Arkansas and Naples, Florida.

After a two-hour rain delay, Shang and Draxl stayed neck-and-neck to the latter stages of the opening set when the Chinese teen broke to 5-4 with a chance to serve out the set in the next game. A talented lefty, he pounded inside out forehands from the baseline to gain the first set advantage over the Canadian.

After finding himself at deuce following two set points at 40-15 and 40-30, Shang successfully served out the set by winning off of two ferocious forehands.

Shang immediately broke serve in the opening game of the second set, but Draxl rebounded to earn the break back. However, the Canadian served up a flurry of unforced errors to allow Shang to break again for a 2-1 lead off of a backhand volley winner.

Having fallen behind 1-3 in the second set, Draxl began admonishing himself on court for his less than stellar semifinal performance. He started talking out loud, saying, “Let’s gooooo – Come on. You are better than this guy. Not today.”

Draxl’s self-berating strategy clearly had a beneficial temporary effect as the Canadian broke back to 3-3. But in the next game Draxl missed a short forehand into the net to, once again, allow Shang to break his serve.

Shang had to save a break point in the eighth game before going ahead 5-3 off of a forehand winner.

After failing to take advantage of four match points on Draxl’s serve in the ninth game, Shang nailed down his final berth on what was his seventh match point when Draxl missed a backhand return off of a first serve.

Shang is hoping to become the best Chinese man in history to play tennis, joining former women’s player Li Na as a tennis powerhouse for the nation.

Li captured two Grand Slam singles trophies during her career – the 2011 French Open and 2014 Australian Open, and reached a career high ranking of No. 2 in February 2014 following her Australian Open title run.

The Chinese men, however, have yet to crack the top 100 ATP rankings with Zhang Zhizhen achieving the best ranking for his country at No. 136 in February 2020. He is currently the highest ranked Chinese man at No. 235.

Wu Di is the second best Chinese player in history having once ranked No. 140 in April 2016, but he’s now fallen to No. 696 in the world.

To be fair to Draxl, his lagging performance wasn’t all that surprising considering he suffered from serious cramping on Friday after ousting doubles partner and University of Florida sophomore, Ben Shelton, in a tough three-set quarterfinal.

In fact, Draxl admitted that he nearly pulled out of the doubles semifinal on Friday because of cramps, and that he actually fell on the ground screaming from a leg cramp in the parking lot of a Chipotle fast-food restaurant prior to the doubles match. After drinking pickle juice and water, he decided to play, which resulted in he and Shelton reaching the doubles final.

Draxl’s semifinal showing equals that of fellow Canadian and current world No. 15 Denis Shapovalov, who reached the Vero Beach semifinal in 2016, also at the Boulevard Club.

“Tennis in Canada is definitely making a push,” Draxl said. “We have Leyla (Fernandez) and Bianca (Andreescu) on the women’s side. Just seeing Denis (Shapovalov) and Felix (Auger Aliassime) up and the young group – the “Next Gen” of Canadian players coming up.

“Just seeing Denis and Felix doing so well on the pro tour, so young, makes me think I can do it too. I’m definitely inspired by them and I’m trying to follow in their footsteps.”

The 19-year-old Draxl, who was the ITA National Player of the Year and the top seed at the NCAA singles championships last season, is taking a semester off from college to play in as many Futures events as

“I love college tennis so much – I love the atmosphere and getting pumped up,” Draxl said. “I had a good year last year and took a lot of good players out. I’m just excited to go back in January and do it all again.

“But in the meantime I’m playing as many Futures as I can to get the ranking up.”

In Saturday’s doubles final, Duarte Vale of Portugal and Johannes Ingildsen of Denmark defeated Draxl and Ben Shelton of Gainesville, Florida 6-3, 6-4.