Shang's secret: Less complaining, more winning

pLess complaining, more winning. That has been the motto lately for #NextGenATP star Shang Juncheng and it has proven plenty successful./p

pThe Chinese 19-year-old ticked off his latest first on Monday when he earned his maiden a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/us-open/560/overview'US Open/a win against 27th seed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alexander-bublik/bk92/overview'Alexander Bublik/a 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in three hours and 34 minutes. Shang has now reached the second round of every major main draw (also the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/australian-open/580/overview'Australian Open/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a) he has played this season./p

pldquo;Very happy and tired. Very tired. Interesting match against Alex. He has everything, he throws anything at you, some second-serve bombs, also drop shots, underarm serves, anything,rdquo; Shang said. ldquo;You really have to focus the whole match, and I'm glad I did all the way lsquo;til the end. It was just a good win, and hopefully I can continue.rdquo;/p

pIt has been the best season of Shangrsquo;s young career. The teen is currently third in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah, putting him in good position to qualify for the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/next-gen-atp-finals/7696/overview'Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF/a for the first time./p

pResults that stand out include his first two ATP Tour semi-finals in Hong Kong and Atlanta, a trip to the third round of the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/australian-open/580/overview'Australian Open/a and a quarter-final in Eastbourne. Entering 2024 he had not reached a tour-level quarter-final./p

pldquo;I think mentally, I'm a different person, also physically,rdquo; Shang said. ldquo;Not too many things have changed.rdquo;/p

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pThe Chinese star has played more aggressively and improved his serve. He even explained that he is still growing height-wise. But the big difference has been in his mind./p

pldquo;Until Eastbourne this year, if I remember exactly, I was complaining so much about the grass that I had no idea how to move on it, and every two steps I would slip. And so me and my parents and also my coach, we made a deal,rdquo; Shang said. ldquo;No complaining during the match, and then we'll count it as one match. Whenever you get to 50 matches, that's when you have another breakthrough. /p

pldquo;Right now we're counting, I think, to 16 matches. Today I was complaining a bit in the second and third, but gladly, in the fourth and fifth, I brought it all back together and had the focus again.rdquo;/p

pIt is a work in progress, just like everything in a tennis playerrsquo;s game. And in many ways, itrsquo;s natural to have dialogue with your team during a match./p

pldquo;If you're really anxious, or if you're really mad at something and nothing is working, obviously first thing is you go to your team and ask them, lsquo;What is going on?rsquo; And the truth is that they did nothing wrong,rdquo; Shang said. ldquo;You're out there by yourself, and you're making the mistakes. So for me, it's better to just forget about the mistake. It doesn't matter how big it is, [you have to] just keep moving forward, because what you can do is focus on the next point and stop thinking about the past.rdquo;/p

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pShang is the second-youngest player in the Top 100 of the PIF ATP Live Rankings at World No. 67. This time last year, the teen had to go through qualifying at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/us-open/560/overview'US Open/a and lost in the final round./p

pThat match, against a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/otto-virtanen/v0am/overview'Otto Virtanen/a, was a three-setter that lasted two hours and one minute. ldquo;I ran out of gas pretty bad,rdquo; Shang recalled, cracking a smile. The lefty charged through five sets in nearly double the time on Monday. /p

pEntering the season, Shang owned four tour-level wins. He has claimed 18 this campaign alone and is eager to push for more, starting with his second-round encounter with Spaniard a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/roberto-carballes-baena/cf59/overview'Roberto Carballes Baena/a./p

pBut the teen is remaining level-headed. Win or lose, there is less complaining and more of a focus on staying in the moment. That includes not dwelling too much on his success./p

pldquo;Whenever I win or I do something bad, I try to forget about it, because if you're always staying in the past, I feel like you can't really enjoy the present,rdquo; Shang said. ldquo;I take days off. Sometimes I don't want to practise, just like a normal guy. I try not to think about too much of the other things that happened before, just focusing on the present and what's going to happen in the future as well.rdquo;/p

p[NEWSLETTER FORM]/p