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.”
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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