ATP Tour

Shang Juncheng: Family, recovery & the making of a star

Sport has always been the language spoken in the Shang household.

At the dinner table. In the park. On the tennis court. Wherever Shang Juncheng was growing up, sport was rarely far away.

Born in Beijing in 2005, Shang was raised by two parents who knew what it meant to compete at the highest level. His mother, Wu Na, was a world champion in table tennis, while his father, Shang Yi, played professional football as a midfielder, spending the majority of his career with Beijing Guoan and earning two international caps for China in 2000.

“Sport was all around me from a young age. I remember playing all sports with my dad and mum, we’ve always been a sporty family,” Shang told ATPTour.com. “I remember when I started playing tennis, I was about six years old and I just started playing mainly for fun like every other kid. Sport is fun and you just try to play it.

“I've tried other sports with golf, football, even playing table tennis with Mum. I think it's fun to do sports in general, so I always liked to be outside, I liked to run around, I liked to be active with friends. So I think sports has always been my thing. Classrooms, not really.”

After initially playing tennis for fun, Shang's talent became increasingly apparent and by the age of 10 he was competing in matches. A couple of years later, the idea of simply playing sport had evolved into something bigger and Shang’s parents' experiences helped him understand what that meant.

“I think it is and was a little bit of an advantage to have athletes in the family. They were both professional athletes in their sports, and I think that gives me sort of an advantage because they can tell me how to handle pressures,” Shang said. “Even though my dad was a footballer, he played team sport. Mum was playing table tennis, so kind of similar to tennis.

“I think when they handle pressure, they handle it almost in the same way, by working hard, by believing themselves. Almost every match you have to fight a mental battle, so I think since I was at a young age, they were helping me to enjoy those moments that are tough instead of, when it comes to pressure, you hide away and you try to ignore it. I don't think you can improve from that.”

In 2019, aged 14, Shang took a major step towards turning his belief into a potential career when he moved to Florida to train at IMG Academy. He left behind the familiarity of home and entered an environment filled with the best juniors in the world and established tour-level stars.

“When I was 14, I started with working with IMG and started to practise with pros. I believed more that I could be a pro player because when you see them up close, watching them play matches is quite different than practising with them,” Shang said.

“When I got to hit with them, feel the ball, feel how they work day in, day out, and I feel like I have a chance, that also gave me a lot of confidence. It also got me more curious because you started seeing college tennis too, which doesn't happen too much in China. There was a lot to take in.”

The transition was not without its challenges. English was difficult, particularly when it came to written work at school, and suddenly Shang was surrounded by students from around the world. But the environment ultimately became an important part of his development.

“In the beginning, English was a bit tough for me. Especially in written letters,” Shang said. “It was not easy going to school with international kids from all over the country, and I think it was at the same time challenging and fun because all the kids and people were super nice, and they welcomed me right away into the academy.

“I think environment is really important when it comes to moving to a different country or a different place. I think if your friends are supportive, your parents are supportive, and you think it's the right thing to do for yourself because everyone wants to become better at a young age, and I think I was trying to.”

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Life at the academy was structured around tennis, school and fitness, with early starts and early nights.

“It was quite full on every day,” Shang said. “If you want to play tennis full time, you have got to wake up early. You have got to go to practice because you have school during the day. I was probably starting hitting around 7 a.m. and finishing around 10 a.m. and then heading school and then, if I got a chance, I’d go on court again in the afternoon and some fitness as well.”

After joining the Academy in 2019, Shang made his tour-level debut three years later in Rio de Janeiro, aged 17. One month later he qualified for his first ATP Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells.

Later in 2022, Shang lifted his first ATP Challenger title in Lexington and then at the start of 2023, won his first tour-level match, defeating Oscar Otte to reach the second round at the Australian Open as a qualifier.

Shang hit further heights in 2024, breaking the Top 100 for the first time in May before he triumphed at the ATP 250 event in Chengdu, becoming just the second Chinese man to win an ATP Tour singles title after Wu Yibing in Dallas in 2023 and the first to do so on Chinese soil.

“I knew I had potential to do good things at the home swing. But I didn't think about winning it when I went to the tournament,” Shang reflected with a smile. “The first day after playing Kei [Nishikori], I got sick, super sick in the tournament. It was fever and everything, not feeling well, so I was like, ‘Hey, let's finish the match second round," because everybody came to watch me.

“It's a home event so I wanted to try. I somehow end up winning it at the end of the week and not feeling sick anymore. It the best week that I have had in my career. Very fun tournament, very fun fans, because playing at home is always special. I love playing in front of Chinese fans, in tournaments. It means a lot to me. It means a lot to my family and team, so we celebrated good.”

Since that breakthrough week in Chengdu, the path has become considerably less straightforward. Shang played just 14 ATP Tour matches in 2025, with four of those coming in the opening week of the season when he reached the semi-finals in Hong Kong. A foot injury that year led to surgery, while further fitness issues have so far disrupted his 2026 season.

After competing in Dubai this February, Shang did not return to the Tour until Washington in July. For a player who had spent his teenage years pushing relentlessly towards the professional ranks, being forced to stop has brought a different kind of challenge.

“It is definitely not easy because in the beginning. You take it as, ‘Oh, Okay. I have got to go do surgery and I have got to take a couple of weeks off.’ And you think, ‘Ah, it's okay. Everything is going to be normal when I come back.’ But actually it's a lot tougher because you start from scratch," said Shang, who reached a career-high No. 47 in the PIF ATP Rankings in 2024 but is currently outside the Top 200.

“You start from a point that you can't walk and you can’t run. You are watching all your friends competing on Tour, so it's not the most fun, I would say. It depends how you take it. If you're thinking positive, it can be good. If you're thinking negative, then you might be sad the whole time. It takes time and patience.”

The 21-year-old Shang has resisted the temptation to return too quickly, knowing that rushing can simply lead back to where he started.

“I think there's a fine line with finding rhythm and trying to overwork yourself, which I'm talking with my coach and my family about, trying to do the right thing, because if you come back too soon, you might end up injured again, or you might end up with low confidence,” Shang said. “Getting a couple of wins when you are back always helps.”

After returning in Washington, Shang reached the third round at the Masters 1000 event in Montreal, another positive step as he works towards full fitness. Having already experienced the highs of winning an ATP Tour title on home soil, Shang now knows that a career is not defined by one week, or by setbacks.

For now, the lefty will hope to stay healthy for the rest of the season, starting this week in Beijing before continuing to Shanghai. Chinese fans will hope to once again see the best from one of the brightest talents in the sport.