Seongchan Hong is a man in a hurry. The fleet-footed 26-year-old tennis player from South Korea is racing against time to realise his dreams before leaving for compulsory military service at the end of the year as mandated by his country’s laws.
One of those is winning his second ATP Challenger trophy, a feat he agonisingly fell short of on Sunday in the dafaNews Bengaluru Open final, and also in Thailand last month. Another is to play at Roland-Garros, the site of his first-ever Major appearance, albeit in the qualifying rounds.
“I have to go to the army this year and I can’t play for one-and-a-half years,” Hong told reporters here. “This will be my last year of touring. I can only play tournaments within South Korea. That’s why I want to focus hard and enjoy myself on the court as much as I can.”
