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Hyeon Chung primed for return at BB&T Atlanta Open

By Keshav Gopalan

MUNICH, GERMANY - MAY 05: Hyeon Chung of Korea plays a fore hand during the semifinal match against Alexander Zverev of Germany on day 8 of the BMW Open by FWU at MTTC IPHITOS on May 5, 2018 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images for BMW)
MUNICH, GERMANY - MAY 05: Hyeon Chung of Korea plays a fore hand during the semifinal match against Alexander Zverev of Germany on day 8 of the BMW Open by FWU at MTTC IPHITOS on May 5, 2018 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images for BMW) /
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Hyeon Chung has had a rough season. After reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open in January, the South Korean player made the quarterfinals of all the tournaments he played till Miami, after which his season was halted because of an ankle injury which saw him withdraw from both the French Open and Wimbledon.

However, the 22 year old Korean now seems primed for a comeback at the Atlanta Open. In a draw that is surprisingly stacked for a small ATP 250 tournament, Hyeon Chung is one of the bigger names in the tournament, joining the likes of John Isner and Nick Kyrgios. Jack Sock was scheduled for an appearance (

and probably only that as he packs his bags after abusing the chair, linespersons, coaches, players, crowds and probably even the birds

) but withdrew from the tournament. No reason has been given

How far can he go?

Who knows? It’s his first tournament in months. He hasn’t won a match since his semifinal run in Munich, which he lost to Alexander Zverev. Hard courts are possibly his best surface, so there’s one advantage for him as he goes into the tournament.

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For now, however, it seems likely that he will not go very deep. Which shouldn’t be much of a problem seeing that his schedule indicates that he’s playing the Citi Open in Washington as well as the Rogers Cup and Cincinnati. This is more than enough practice going into the US Open, where he will be looking to go deep.

Conclusion

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Chung will be looking to stay healthy more than winning tournaments as he embarks on a comeback journey. While playing in Atlanta and Washington loosely indicates that he is looking to build some momentum going into the US hard court season, poor results shouldn’t really deter him if he’s feeling fine and healthy.

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