Michael Zheng’s rise 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 to the United States from Hubei, China, so that Zheng’s father, Joe, could pursue a doctorate in physics. When the technology boom hit, Joe and his wife Mei chose a career in IT.
“He decided to start using computers, and so did my mother,” Zheng told ATPtour.com about his parents. ‘They came [to the United States] when they were in their late 20s or early 30s, so they’ve been living in the United States for 20 to 30 years now. It’s like the American dream, I guess.”
Upon arriving in the United States, Joe started playing tennis with friends and immediately fell in love with the sport. That passion has since developed into watching and supporting Michael as he pursues his own “American Dream” on the tennis court. Joe was a longtime fan of Roger Federer and 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 achieved several milestone victories at both the collegiate and professional levels. Last year, Zheng won the 2024 NCAA singles title, six months removed from a second-place finish at the same tournament, now 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, winning trophies in Chicago, Columbus and Tiburon in his past three outings. With his latest victory in Tiburon, Zheng joined a long list of Americans who would triumph at the hard-court event in California. Jack Sock, Sam Querrey and Tommy Paul are among the elites to win the Tiburon Challenger.
Michael Zheng is crowned champion of the Tiburon Challenger. Credit: Natalie Kim
In Chicago, Zheng competed in the main draw through the ATP Next Gen Accelerator, a program that aims to increase the development pathway for top players in the U.S. collegiate system to earn direct entry into select Challenger events.
“It’s definitely a super helpful program. It gives players a lot of incentive to come to college and follow that path,” Zheng said. “You just get a flying start to your career. You don’t really have to stroll through Futures – there are always good players in Futures too and you can lose at any time, and it really is a grind. You have to spend a lot of weeks on the road before you get to Challenger level.”
“And then you have a good result like I had in Chicago, and then your ranking is suddenly there to get into the main tournament of Challengers. I think it’s a great initiative.”
Zheng ranks No. 180 in his career thanks to his good streak. From his first Challenger appearance of the season in late May to now, Zheng has risen more than 500 places in the PIF ATP Rankings.
Zheng, winner of 15 of his past 16 competitions at all levels, balances that success with academics. To add to this challenge, all of Zheng’s classes at Columbia 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 get a sense of what situation makes the most sense to play,” Zheng said. “Then you try to make up for your work along the way and keep in touch with your teachers to see if everything is going well.”
Fortunately, Zheng is no stranger to balancing academics and tennis. It’s something he’s been doing since high school, when he often commuted to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
“I went there three days a week. I would pretty much miss my last two classes of high school. My parents talked to the school and we made sure [it would be okay]” said Zheng, who won the 2021 New Jersey state singles title, representing the Delbarton School.
“My mom picked me up from school and took me to the bus. I took the bus to the Port Authority and then I took the 7 train to the tennis center there. Then I made the same commute back. It was probably an hour and a half each way, something like that.”
Zheng’s start in tennis began at the age of six or seven, long before he made those sacrifices. The New Jersey resident would go to the local court together with his older sister and father.
“He thought I was talented,” Zheng said. “I had good hand-eye coordination and could get the ball over the net even though I had never touched a racket before. He loved tennis, had a lot of passion for the sport and he wanted to see how far he could go.”
Despite Zheng’s initial difficulties interacting with other children during his first year of 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 father always had absolute confidence in me that I could eventually make money as a professional tennis player,” said Zheng, who works with coach Ruan Roelofse. “So the daily reinforcement helped me and gave me the belief that maybe I have a shot at this.”
With each passing week, Zheng may continue to make that a reality.
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