Four players competing! Chinese men's tennis finally shows some backbone

The main draw of the 2026 Australian Open is about to fully commence. The qualifying rounds have concluded, and the singles main draw has been released. A total of eight players from mainland China participated in the qualifiers, with Wu Yibing, Zhu Lin, Yuan Yue, and Bai Zhuoxuan advancing to the final qualifying round.

In the end, only Zhu Lin unfortunately lost in the final qualifying round. Thus, eight players from mainland China will compete in the singles main draw at this Australian Open. Among them, four male players will participate in the Grand Slam men's singles main draw together for the first time since the Open Era began.

Zhang Zhizhen and Shang Juncheng both entered this Australian Open using protected rankings. Zhang Zhizhen's first-round opponent is the tournament's 18th seed, Cerundolo. After briefly becoming Asia's top player last year, Zhang suffered from injuries and was sidelined for a long period, causing his world ranking to drop significantly. He made his comeback during the China season, playing the Hangzhou Open ranked 192nd in the world and reaching the second round.

Afterwards, Zhang Zhizhen participated in the China Open and Shanghai Masters but was unfortunately eliminated in the first round in both events. At the National Games men's singles, he lost in the quarterfinals to Zhou Yi. Fortunately, Zhang started the new season smoothly by competing in the United Cup group stage and securing a win against Berrettini.

Like Zhang Zhizhen, Shang Juncheng also endured a serious injury last year. He underwent foot surgery and missed most of the season, only returning in August at Cincinnati, where he was upset in the first round by Etcheverry. At the US Open, he retired in the first round due to injury but managed to win several matches during the Asian season.

In contrast, Bu Yunchaokete competed throughout the 2025 season in better health. He won the men's singles title at the Australian Open Asia-Pacific Wildcard Playoff at the end of last year, earning a valuable direct entry into this year's Australian Open main draw. He is currently the highest-ranked Chinese male tennis player in the world.

Wu Yibing battled through three rounds of Australian Open qualifying to advance. None of the four players gained direct entry based on ranking alone, but we still welcome a historic group of four Chinese players in the men's singles. Besides Zhang Zhizhen facing Cerundolo in the first round, Shang Juncheng meets veteran Feliciano López, Bu Yunchaokete plays 21st seed Shapovalov, and Wu Yibing takes on Nardi.

Compared to the others, Wu Yibing's draw is slightly more favorable. His first-round opponent is ranked only 108th in the world and 9th in Italy. They have never met before. If Wu wins, he could face 28th seed Fonseca in the second round, and potentially challenge the tournament's 2nd seed, Sinner, in the third round.(Source: Tennis Home, Author: Barbie)