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Michael Zheng: Family's migration from China to 'American dream'

  • Posted: Oct 14, 2025

Michael Zheng’s ascent as one of the promising young Americans on the ATP Challenger Tour begins with his family’s migration story.

Before Michael was born, his parents emigrated from Hubei, China, to the United States so Zheng’s father, Joe, could pursue a PhD in physics. When the tech boom hit, Joe and his wife Mei pivoted to careers in IT.

“He decided to go into computers, and my mom too,” Zheng told ATPTour.com of his parents. “They came [to the United States] when they were either late 20s or early 30s, so they’ve been in the States for 20 to 30 years now. It’s like the American dream I guess.”

Upon arrival in the United States, Joe began playing tennis with friends and instantly fell in love with the sport. That passion has since evolved into watching and supporting Michael chase his own ‘American dream’ on the tennis court. A longtime Roger Federer fan, Joe hoped his son would “play like Roger”, Michael, also a Federer fan, recalled with a smile.

Now 21 and a senior at Columbia University, Zheng has already enjoyed several milestone victories at both the collegiate and professional level. Last year, Zheng won the 2024 NCAA singles title, six months removed from a runner-up finish at the same tournament, which now is held in November. Zheng became the first Ivy League NCAA singles champion since 1922.

The New Jersey native has made a seamless transition to the ATP Challenger Tour, lifting trophies in Chicago, Columbus and Tiburon in his past three outings. With his latest victory in Tiburon, Zheng joined a lengthy list of Americans to triumph at the California hard-court event. Jack Sock, Sam Querrey and Tommy Paul are among the elites who have won the Tiburon Challenger.

<img alt=”Michael Zheng wins the Tiburon Challenger.” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2025/10/06/15/26/zheng-tiburonch-2025.jpg” />
Michael Zheng is crowned champion at the Tiburon Challenger. Credit: Natalie Kim

In Chicago, Zheng was competing in the main draw through the ATP Next Gen Accelerator, a programme that aims to increase the development pathway for top players in the American collegiate system to earn direct entry into select Challenger events.

“It’s definitely a super helpful programme. It gives a lot of incentive for players to come to college and go through that pathway,” Zheng said. “You just get that jump start from your career. You don’t really have to grind through the Futures — there’s always good players in Futures as well and you can lose any time, and it really is a grind. You have to do a lot of weeks on the road before you get to the Challenger level.

“And then you have a good result like how I had in Chicago, then all of a sudden your ranking is there to get into the main draw of Challengers by yourself. I think it’s a great initiative.”

Zheng is at a career-high World No. 180 on the back of his hot streak. From his first Challenger appearance of the season in late May to now, Zheng has soared more than 500 spots in the PIF ATP Rankings.

The winner of 15 of his past 16 matches across all levels, Zheng is balancing that success with academics. To add to that challenge, all of Zheng’s Columbia classes are in person, forcing him to juggle coursework and travel without the flexibility of online learning.

“You talk to all your professors and kind of feel out the situation on what makes the most sense to play,” Zheng said. “Then you try to make up your work when you’re on the road and keep in touch with your professors to make sure everything is going okay.”

It All Adds Up

Fortunately, Zheng is no stranger to balancing academics and tennis. It is something he has been doing since middle school, when he often commuted to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

“I would go there three days a week. I would pretty much miss my last two classes of middle school. My parents talked to the school and we made sure that [it would be okay],” said Zheng, who in 2021 won the New Jersey state singles title, representing Delbarton School.

“My mom would pick me up from school, drive me to the bus. I would take the bus to Port Authority and then I would take the 7 train basically to the tennis centre there. Then I would make that same commute back. It was probably an hour and a half one way, something like that.”

Zheng’s start in tennis began aged six or seven, long before he made those sacrifices. The New Jersey native would go to the local courts alongside his older sister and father.

“He thought I had some talent,” Zheng said. “I had some good hand-eye coordination and I was able to make the ball over the net even though I never touched a racquet before. He was super into tennis, had a lot of passion for the sport and he wanted to see how far he could take it.”

Despite Zheng’s initial struggles to contend with other kids during his first year training at the USTA, it was only a matter of time before the tables turned. Through it all, one constant voice has been important: Zheng’s father.

“My dad always had absolute faith in me that I could end up making money being a professional tennis player,” said Zheng, who is working with coach Ruan Roelofse. “So the daily reinforcement helped me out and gave me the belief that maybe I have a shot at this.”

With every passing week, Zheng continues to turn that maybe into reality.

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Cazaux climbs to career high following Jinan Challenger title run

  • Posted: Oct 14, 2025

Frenchman Arthur Cazaux captured his fourth ATP Challenger Tour title on Sunday to secure a new career-high in the PIF ATP Rankings.

The top seed at the 2025 Jinan Open, Cazaux dropped just one set all week. He raced past Mackenzie McDonald 6-3, 6-2 in the final, earning revenge on the American who beat him in the Shenzhen Challenger final 12 months ago.

Following his triumph, the 23-year-old is now No. 58 in the PIF ATP Rankings. Jinan marks Cazaux’s first Challenger trophy of this season, during which he has competed in five events at that level. The Montpellier native reached his first tour-level final this year in Kitzbühel.

“First title of the year!” Cazaux wrote on Instagram, adding a hashtag ‘#loveindoors’.

Virtanen remains perfect in Challenger finals
Finland’s Otto Virtanen returned to the winner’s circle, claiming his second Challenger title of the year and eighth overall. The 24-year-old won the l’Open Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes de Roanne, where he outlasted home hope Hugo Gaston 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 in the final.

Virtanen, No. 116 in the PIF ATP Rankings, extended his perfect record in Challenger finals to 8-0. Seven of those eight matches have been played at indoor events, including Roanne. Virtanen’s first Challenger trophy this year came on grass in Birmingham.

<img alt=”Otto Virtanen at the Roanne Challenger.” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2025/10/13/13/56/virtanen-roannech-2025.jpg?w=100%25″ />
Otto Virtanen at the Roanne Challenger. Credit: Clement Corso

University of Arizona standout Friend claims maiden title in surprise run
Jay Dylan Friend earned a milestone victory at the Solano Challenger in Fairfield, California. A senior at the University of Arizona, the 21-year-old Friend captured his maiden Challenger title in just his fourth outing at that level. Friend advanced through qualifying en route to the title, ousting a fellow qualifier, Edward Winter, 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-2 in the championship match.

Friend, who hails from Tokyo, Japan, qualified for the ATP Next Gen Accelerator programme this year, thanks to his collegiate success at Arizona.

Entering the week as World No. 743, Friend is the second lowest-ranked champion on the Challenger circuit this season (No. 847 Stefano Napolitano won in Biella). Friend has soared 263 spots to a career-high No. 480. He entered Fairfield with two victories at the Challenger level, including an August win against Valentin Vacherot, who won the ATP Masters 1000 event in Shanghai.

Briton Choinski earns fourth title of 2025, countryman Peniston also wins
Jan Choinski and Ryan Peniston took contrasting paths to add hardware to their trophy cabinets. Choinski needed a deciding set in four of his five matches at the Copa Faulcombridge by Marcos Automocion in Valencia. In the final, he ended Croatian Luka Mikrut’s nine-match winning streak with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory. Mikrut won the previous week’s Braga Challenger.

Following Choinski’s fourth Challenger trophy of the season, the 29-year-old is now tied atop the 2025 title leaderboard, joining Borna Coric, Emilio Nava and #NextGenATP Nicolai Budkov Kjaer.

<img alt=”Jan Choinski in action at the Valencia Challenger.” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2025/10/13/13/52/choinski-valenciach-2025.jpg” />
Jan Choinski in action at the Valencia Challenger. Credit: Copa Faulcombridge by Marcos Automocion

Peniston dropped just one set across five matches to win the Hersonissos Challenger 5. The 29-year-old beat top seed Kimmer Coppejans 6-3, 7-5 in the final to secure his Top 200 return for the first time in 20 months.

Barrios Vera captures clay-court crown in Cali
Chilean Tomas Barrios Vera capped a dominant week at the Kia Open in Cali, Colombia by earning his sixth Challenger title. The top seed raced past Juan Carlos Prado Angelo 6-1, 6-4 in the final. Barrios Vera surrendered no more than six games in a match en route to the title.

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Dimitrov, Fils join Anna Wintour, Venus Williams at Lacoste fashion show

  • Posted: Oct 13, 2025

Grigor Dimitrov and Arthur Fils are two of the most fashionable players on the ATP Tour, so it is fitting they spent time with fashion icons on 5 October.

Fils and Dimitrov attended the Lacoste Spring-Summer 26 Runway Show during Paris Fashion Week. The stars, Nos. 31 and 32 in the PIF ATP Rankings, respectively, mingled fashion titans including Anna Wintour and Venus Williams.

See below some of their photos:

<img alt=”Anna Wintour and Grigor Dimitrov at the Lacoste Spring-Summer 26 Runway Show during Paris Fashion Week.” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2025/10/13/19/50/wintour-dimitrov-lacoste-october-2025.jpg?w=100%25″ />
Anna Wintour and Dimitrov chat at the Lacoste fashion show during the Paris Fashion Week.

<img alt=”Arthur Fils and Grigor Dimitrov at the Lacoste Spring-Summer 26 Runway Show during Paris Fashion Week.” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2025/10/13/19/46/fils-dimitrov-lacoste-october-2025.jpg” />
Fils and Dimitrov pose at the Lacoste fashion show during the Paris Fashion Week. 

<img alt=”Arthur Fils and Chloe Paquet at the Lacoste Spring-Summer 26 Runway Show during Paris Fashion Week.” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2025/10/13/19/48/fils-paquet-lacoste-october-2025.jpg” />
Fils with WTA star Chloe Paquet at the Lacoste fashion show during the Paris Fashion Week. 

All photos were taken by Adam Katz Sinding.

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Fearnley finds fine margins for Stockholm revenge, upsets Griekspoor

  • Posted: Oct 13, 2025

Jacob Fearnley’s first test at the 2025 BNP Paribas Nordic Open was to try and complete a Stockholm revenge job on Tallon Griekspoor. The Briton succeeded in his mission Monday, although not before some deciding-tie-break drama.

The No. 79 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, Fearnley upset fifth seed Griekspoor 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-6(5) on Day 1 of the indoor ATP 250 to avenge his second-round loss to the Dutchman at the same event a year ago. Fearnley at one point led 6/2 in the third-set tie-break but lost four points in a row, including two on his own serve, before wrapping his two-hour, 44-minute win.

“That was very tough. I thought things were going fairly comfortably up until 5/3 when I was serving for it, and I got a little bit tight,” said Fearnley in his on-court interview. “To be fair to Tallon, he competed hard and upped his level when he needed to. It was just a war until the end. Huge respect to Tallon, but happy to be through.”

Fearnley completed victory despite being outhit 32-34 by Griekspoor in the winner count. The 24-year-old Briton’s serve was the foundation for his triumph, and he finished the match having won 78 per cent (45/58) of points behind his first delivery, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

After levelling his Lexus ATP Head2Head series with Griekspoor at 1-1, Fearnley will next prepare for a second-round meeting against one of two brothers: Home wild cards Mikael Ymer and Elias Ymer play their first-round match on Tuesday for the right to take on the Scot.

In the opening match of the day in Stockholm, Miomir Kecmanovic raced past sixth seed Alexandre Muller to snap a four-match ATP Tour losing streak. The Serbian World No. 49 next plays Tomas Martin Etcheverry or qualifier Mark Lajal.

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Bonzi continues his 'Opelka October' with Brussels win

  • Posted: Oct 13, 2025

Benjamin Bonzi successfully blunted Reilly Opelka’s big-serving game for the second time this month on Monday at the BNP Paribas Fortis European Open.

Just 11 days after Bonzi downed the six-foot, 11-inch American in straight sets in Shanghai, the No. 53 in the PIF ATP Rankings repeated that result with a 6-4, 6-4 victory in Brussels. Bonzi withstood 13 aces from Opelka and forged a decisive five-game streak from 3-3 in the opening set en route to a 70-minute triumph at the indoor hard-court ATP 250.

“Of course it’s easier when you played someone the past week, and I knew how he would serve,” said Bonzi in his on-court interview. “But it’s completely different conditions here than Shanghai. It was way slower in China. Here it is pretty fast. It’s indoors, so his serve is way more efficient.

“I’m very happy with the way I managed to return his serve and play the points when I succeeded in putting the ball back in the court. It was a great first match here.”

Now 14-19 for the season, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, Bonzi will take on sixth seed Sebastian Baez or his countryman Valentin Royer in the second round in Brussels. The 29-year-old is looking to build on an impressive record at indoor events: He finished his 2024 season with a 21-1 run indoors (including ATP Challenger Tour events), highlighted by lifting his maiden ATP Tour crown in Metz.

Marcos Giron was the other first-round winner on Monday in Brussels. The American eased past Mattia Bellucci 6-3, 6-4 to set a meeting with fourth seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Giron has not won a set across two previous Lexus ATP Head2Head clashes with the Spaniard, although they have not met since the 2023 US Open.

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Diallo, Marozsan Day 1 winners in Almaty

  • Posted: Oct 13, 2025

Gabriel Diallo has fond memories at the Almaty Open, having reached his first ATP Tour final at the event last year. On Monday, the seventh-seeded Canadian made an impressive start to his latest campaign at the ATP 250, dispatching wild card Amir Omarkhanov 6-3, 6-1.

In a dominant performance, Diallo won 93 per cent (25/27) of his first-serve points, according to Infosys ATP Stats, and did not face a break point to advance after just 62 minutes. Diallo won his maiden tour-level trophy in ‘s-Hertogenbosch earlier this season and will aim to add to that triumph in Almaty, where he next meets Ugo Blanchet or James Duckworth.

It All Adds Up

In other Day 1 action, Fabian Marozsan beat Luca Nardi 7-6(3), 6-3. The No. 52 player in the PIF ATP Rankings recovered from squandering a 5-3 lead in the first set and now leads the Italian 3-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series. Marozsan has recorded 25 wins this year and is the third Hungarian man to reach that milestone in a season, joining Balazs Taroczy and Marton Fucsovics.

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Can Rune build on Shanghai run and make late Turin push?

  • Posted: Oct 13, 2025

Holger Rune and Daniil Medvedev kept themselves in Nitto ATP Finals contention with positive showings at the Rolex Shanghai Masters. ATPTour.com looks at the movers of the week in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin as of Monday 13 October.

It All Adds Up

Holger Rune – 12th (2,490 points), +2
The Dane has climbed two spots to 12th in the Live Race after he reached the quarter-finals in Shanghai. Rune earned three wins at the ATP Masters 1000 event to close to 945 points of eighth-placed Lorenzo Musetti, who is in the final qualification spot. Rune, who competes in Stockholm this week, qualified for Turin in 2023. Rune will need an impressive final month of the season if he is to return to Italy in November, but he has found his best level on the indoor hard courts before, winning his maiden Masters 1000 title in Paris in 2022.

View the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin

Novak Djokovic – third (4,580), +1
Djokovic has climbed to third in the Live Race and is on the brink of qualifying for the prestigious year-end event following a semi-final showing in Shanghai, where he lost to eventual titlist Valentin Vacherot. The record seven-time Nitto ATP Finals champion is 35-11 on the season, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index.

Alex de Minaur – seventh (3,545)

The Australian consolidated his seventh-placed position after advancing to the quarter-finals in Shanghai. De Minaur recorded his 50th tour-level victory of the season at the event. It is the first time the 26-year-old has earned 50 wins in a season. He will next compete at the ATP 500 event in Vienna, which begins on Monday 20 October.

Daniil Medvedev – 15th (2,360), +5
Medvedev kept alive his faint chances of qualifying by reaching the semi-finals in Shanghai, beating De Minaur en route to improve to 8-4 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series. The 29-year-old has competed at the year-end event for the past six years, lifting the trophy in 2020. He will hope to gain more points this week in Almaty, where he is the second seed at the ATP 250 event.

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have already qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals, taking place from 9-16 November at Inalpi Arena in Turin.

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Magic for Monaco: Vacherot's storybook ride leads to historic trip

  • Posted: Oct 13, 2025

It’s been a memorable world-wind trip to the Rolex Shanghai Masters for Melanie-Antoinette de Massy, president of the Monegasque Tennis Federation, Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters and the Monte-Carlo Country Club.

De Massy arrived in Shanghai at midday Friday after a 20-hour trip from Monaco with Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters tournament director David Massey.

On Saturday, de Massy sat in Valentin Vacherot’s guest box along with Massey to see her countryman defeat four-time Rolex Shanghai Masters champion and World No. 5 Novak Djokovic. Twenty-four hours later, de Massy was back in Vacherot’s box to see history being made as the 26-year-old rallied from a set down to defeat his cousin Arthur Rinderknech 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 and become the first player from Monaco in the Open Era to win an ATP Tour singles title.

“I am so, so proud of him and there’s really no words that come to mind to describe really the feelings throughout the match,” said de Massy. “He played incredibly well and the match was fantastic. We saw really some amazing points, fantastic tennis and I’m so glad to be here. I’m so glad to live this moment with him and so happy to see this historical final.”

De Massy’s phone has been receiving nonstop messages from well wishers back home as well as interview requests. Avid tennis fan Prince Albert II of Monaco followed closely Vacherot’s historic run in Shanghai and was messaging de Massy before and during the championship match.

During the final, de Massy said she received several WhatsApp messages from Prince Albert II and afterwards he spoke to her along with Vacherot.

“We spoke for 10 to 15 minutes after the match and he was so thrilled, then Prince Albert spoke to Val for about 10 minutes,” said de Massy, who received close to 100 messages after the final. “He was very touched by Val’s words in the award ceremony and was proud of Val’s results. The Prince gave interviews to the local press and congratulated the work of the Federation. The whole country is proud.”


David Massey and Melanie-Antoinette de Massy supporting Vacherot in Shanghai. Photo: Rolex Shanghai Masters.

There was a watch party at the Monte-Carlo Country Club with members and many of the top junior players in Monaco. The marketplace showed the match at 10:30 in the morning on a massive screen that was organised by the Monaco Town Hall, similar to what is done for the Formula 1 race in Monte-Carlo.

“I turned on my phone, but I haven’t really watched anything yet,” said Vacherot. “I can’t wait to watch the videos, especially at the Monte-Carlo Country Club. I knew they had a big watch party. Because it’s Sunday, everyone is off work, so I think this probably the day there is the most people.”

Shortly after the final ended, Vacherot draped the Monaco flag over his shoulders before the award ceremony began. He reflected on his historic achievement and what it means for his country.

“Just to hold the flag, and to be able to do that for my country is, it’s unreal, of course,” said Vacherot, who climbed from No. 204 to No. 40 in the PIF ATP Rankings. “I’m just thinking about our little federation, our little small country, one of the smallest countries in the world. Probably the smallest federation. We have such, we have not many players, and now we have one Masters 1000 in singles, two Masters 1000 titles in doubles with Hugo Nys — also one Grand Slam final for Hugo in the Australian Open two years ago — and what we get to achieve for Monaco is unbelievable. I hope that we’re making everyone proud of us, and I hope just to keep going.”

Nys is ranked No. 19 in doubles and has been a career-high No. 12 in June 2023. He won his biggest title at ATP Masters 1000 Rome that year and also was a finalist at the Australian Open in 2023. Romain Arneodo, a winner of two doubles titles this season, is ranked No. 45 in doubles after reaching a career-high No. 38 in August.

Earlier this year at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in April, French-born Monegasque player Arneodo made history by winning the doubles title with Frenchman Manuel Guinard. Arneodo became the first Monegasque player to win the Monte-Carlo doubles title.

“For Monaco it’s absolutely extraordinary and we’ve never had a Monaco-born player in the Top 100 in singles,” said de Massy. “We’ve had, as Valentin said at the end of his semi-final match — and I really appreciated that he did that — is to remind everyone that in tennis there’s singles, but there’s also doubles, and we have extraordinary double players. In Monaco we love playing Davis Cup because we love being a team, we love being all together and with Monaco Tennis Federation — and Monaco tennis as a whole actually, whether it’s the tournament, the federation, or the club — is one big family.”

Half-brother and coach Benjamin Balleret instilled the belief in Valentin that he would break into the Top 100 and then take it to a higher level.

“When we were putting goals for Val it was not only Top 100, because it seems a little, like, ‘Oh, for some guys, we just want to be Top 100’,” said Balleret, who ranked a career-high No. 204 in 2006. “No, it’s like, ‘Let’s go. We want to be Top 50, Top 30’. You have more, even more ambition. So our role as the coach and all the team is to be behind him and to push him and to tell him that he believes that he can be a top-50 player. Because I think so many players stop believing.”

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