Zhang Zhizhen (Chinese: 张之臻; pinyin: Zhāng Zhīzhēn; Mandarin pronunciation:[ʈʂáŋ ʈʂɻ̩́ ʈʂə́n]; born 16 October 1996), is a Chinese professional tennis player. He is currently the No. 1 Chinese tennis player. Zhang became the first Chinese man in Open era to play in the main draw at The All England Club, when he qualified for the 2021 Wimbledon Championships.[2] He has won two singles and two doubles titles on the ATP Challenger and two singles and two doubles titles on the ITF Futures Tour. He reached his career high singles ranking of World No. 136 in February 2020 and his career high doubles ranking of World No. 211 in September 2017.
Zhang made his first ATP tour debut in the 2015 Shenzhen Open. As a qualifier, he defeated Japanese Go Soeda in straight sets in the first round. He eventually lost to the 6th seed Jiří Veselý in straight sets.
On 26 November 2017, defeating Te Rigele 5–7, 7–6(8–6), 6–3, Zhang won the China Tennis Grand Prix Cup title for the first time.[5]
2019: Two Challenger titles, China's No. 1 player, Top 150 debut, Career high Year-end ranking[]
In 2019, Zhang won two ATP challenger titles in Jinan and Shenzhen. At the ATP level, he reached the second rounds at Zhuhai and Beijing, both as wildcard holder, defeating German Dominik Koepfer and British Kyle Edmund in the first round matches respectively.
2020-2021: Career-high singles ranking and Grand Slam debut, First Chinese man in Open era to play at Wimbledon[]
Zhang qualified for the first time in his career at a Grand Slam into the 2021 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles main draw. He became the first Chinese male tennis player in the Open era to qualify to play in this Grand Slam main draw.[6]
He is also only the fourth Chinese man to play singles in the main draw of any Grand Slam since 1968, with the others being Wu Di at the Australian Open in 2013, 2014 and 2016, Zhang Ze at the Australian Open in 2014 and 2015, and Li Zhe at the 2019 Australian Open.[2]