Jung Blogs About Life In Challengers

Competing on the ATP Challenger Tour is a truly international experience: just ask Jason Jung.

The 26-year-old from Taiwan has already competed in six countries across the globe this year. When he’s not traveling and competing on the ATP Challenger Tour, he blogs about these experiences on his WordPress account. Jung has given fans a glimpse of his day exploring downtown Leon, traveling by tuk-tuk in Bangkok and training on-site at tournaments around the world.

“I like to write,” said Jung. “I just write the blogs whenever I can. I started it as a way to update my friends and family on where I am and how things were going, but it’s become a way to look back on everything I’ve done as the years have gone by.”

Life on tour wasn’t always part of the plan for Jung. After completing a standout college tennis career at the University of Michigan in 2012, he took an office job only to find himself laid off after just two weeks. Jung then entered a money tournament for fun in Seattle and ended up winning it, sparking his decision to give playing pro a shot.

The bulk of Jung’s ATP Challenger Tour points this year have come from tournaments in Asia. He kicked off 2016 by reaching the semi-finals of the $50,000 event tournament in Bangkok and advanced to the quarterfinals of this week’s $50,000 event in Nanjing.

“Playing in China is a little bit easier for me than some of the other Asian events because I know Taiwanese. It’s not necessarily perfect in terms of conversation, but I can get around,” said Jung. “The courts here in Nanjing are great, but I also like playing in China because the Challengers here have really good facilities and big stadiums.”

Jung has became a mainstay on the ATP Challenger Tour in his fifth year as a pro, but is now looking to consistently make deep runs in tournaments. Known as one of the hardest-working players on tour, he’s spent countless hours on the court trying to beef up his game and become more aggressive.

“I’ve been working on my serve a lot more to make it bigger and use it as a weapon,” said Jung. “I’ve also been trying to add more of a transition to my game and come to the net when it’s possible to put away balls. You see that much more in Challengers than in the Futures, so I’ve needed to keep developing those parts of my game.”