Michael Zheng will take five courses this spring semester at Columbia University in New York, where he is a senior. The 21-year-old is soon to graduate from the Ivy League institution, one of the most prestigious schools in the world.
But even though school begins on 20 January, that will not be his focus this week. Instead, the student-athlete is on the other side of the world competing in a major main draw for the first time at the Australian Open.
“Right now, I’m really excited,” Zheng, a qualifier, told ATPTour.com. “And relieved to get through that and get the chance to play my first main draw.”
A year ago, that was more than improbable. Zheng was the reigning NCAA men’s singles champion, but still outside the Top 700 in the PIF ATP Rankings. Yet he has balanced a rigorous education — earning Academic All-American honours as well as the Rafael Osuna National Sportsmanship Award in 2025 — and college tennis with proving he can compete with the best players in the world.
Zheng has long shown ability, dating back to when his father, Joe, decided to introduce Michael and his older sister by two years, Amy, to the sport at their local high school. Joe, who moved to the United States from China, fell in love with the sport upon his arrival and passed it along to his children.
Growing up in New Jersey, Zheng spent three days a week during middle school training at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, home of the US Open. And by the end of his junior career, the American reached the 2022 Wimbledon boys’ singles final, beating Coleman Wong and Martin Landaluce along the way.
“I had some talent, so he wanted to see how far he could take it,” Zheng said of his father. “And now we’re here playing my first main draw [of a major]. It’s been quite a tournament.”
But it has been an atypical one. Zheng is an active college student who in the coming days has to prepare for psychology courses in the New York winter. Instead, he is heating up in the Australian summer. The humble student does not make a big deal of it, but Ivy League coursework is difficult enough on its own.
“The academic rigour has helped Michael in many ways, especially mentally,” said Howard Endelman, the head coach of men’s tennis at Columbia. “The schoolwork is complementary; It allows Michael to focus and develop aspects of his life outside of tennis. Although it might be counter-intuitive, this combination has helped Michael develop as a complete person which has actually helped his tennis.”
According to Zheng, Endelman emphasises this message consistently.
“You learn how to manage your time and in the pressure moments, I think you can manage a little bit better, because you put all that work in and at the same time, you’re balancing school,” Zheng said. “I think it just gives you that little bit of a mental edge, that you’re doing maybe a little bit more than these other guys, and at the same time, your level is there.”
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What makes his moment in the spotlight Sunday against Sebastian Korda at Melbourne Park more impressive is how he got there. Not only did he work his way through a tough qualifying draw, but made a big run to earn his place in qualifying in the first place.
In early June, Zheng was still outside the world’s Top 700. But a run to the ATP Challenger final in Little Rock began a huge surge, with titles in Chicago, Columbus and Tiburon showing it was no fluke.
“Right after winning the Tiburon Challenger final in October, Michael took a Sunday night red-eye flight so he could take an in-person exam Monday morning in New York City,” Endelman said. “He just takes it all in stride.”
The latter two tournament victories came while Zheng was taking five classes, before successfully defending his NCAA singles crown.
“Definitely not easy. At the same time, I think people tend to overestimate the studies. I think you can make it as hard or as easy as you want it to be,” Zheng, a Psychology major, said. “I’m travelling, missing quite a bit of class, so I’m not going to do anything too crazy, like neuroscience, biology or something like that. But at the same time, you can sign up for whatever classes you want to take.”
Entering college, Zheng had not planned to study psychology, but economics. The 21-year-old has found it interesting, even if he does not believe that there is a firm link between his studies and psychology on the tennis court.
Zheng’s memorable run nearly came to an end in the final round of qualifying against Lukas Klein, against whom he faced a match point in the final-set tie-break. But the Columbia Lion dealt with that pressure the same way he does school: successfully.
“Nothing seems to bother Michael — on or off the court — especially when things go wrong,” Endelman said. “Michael lost the lead after being up 7/1 and 9/7 in the final-set tiebreaker, then all of a sudden was serving down 9/10. With no emotion, he calmly goes up to the line and saves match point with an ace wide.”
Although Zheng’s tennis career is only beginning, the future is bright both on and off the court for the college standout. But the World No. 174 is not too concerned about what will come with his Psychology degree at the moment.
“I’m not thinking too longterm right now,” Zheng said. “I’m just focussing on seeing how far I can take the tennis and giving 100 per cent focus on that at least.”
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