Wimbledon history-maker Coleman Wong wants to inspire Hongkongers to choose tennis careers
- Debut at the grass-court grand slam event, weeks after a first appearance in the French Open, makes Wong ‘feel like I belong’
Coleman Wong Chak-lam said he felt he “belonged” on the tennis grand-slam stage despite going down to a straight-sets defeat in the opening round of Wimbledon qualifying this week.
Hong Kong’s first men’s or women’s representative at Wimbledon in 70 years, Wong suffered an identical fate when he made his major championship debut, at the same stage of last month’s French Open.
The 20-year-old has nonetheless had the best year of his embryonic career, climbing the world rankings from 477 last October to his current 172. In March, he qualified for his first Masters 1000 main draw, in Miami, and late last year he reached successive Challenger Tour finals and the Asian Games quarter-finals.
The wins have dried up of late, but Wong insisted he was content with his progress following a 6-4, 6-4 loss to world No 118 Zachary Svajda on the grass in southwest London.
“There are so many good players around the world, I am happy to be among them, and I feel like I belong here,” Wong said.
“Having played the French Open, this grand slam didn’t feel like going into the unknown. I’m comfortable on the grass, but the level of the players here is really high.
