Up-and-Coming Tennis Players Jun Woong-Sun and Kim Sun-yong

Playing with the same team for five years, the two can read each other’s minds just by looking into each others eyes. They are just like brothers. The two are up-and-coming tennis players Jun Woong-sun (19, SMI Academy), and Kim Sun-yong (18, Yangmyoung High School). The two players were sweating even in the cold weather, training on a court in Yangjaedong on January 5.

“This year will be a very important year for both of us. Because we are playing together, it’s not that lonely, and we can rely on each other.”

Jun Woong-sun, who took the fourth ranking in the world juniors, will make his debut in adult tennis competitions. Kim Sun-yong was keenly enthused, hearing the news that he became the number one ranked player in the world juniors rankings released by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) on January 4.

The two players first met at SMI Academy, a private institution run by Coach Joo Won-hong of Samsung Securities to raise junior tennis players, in 2002, and they became close friends and innocent competitors.

Jun Woong-sun, who hits fast serves clocked at over 200 km/h, won three times in both domestic and international games. Kim Sun-yong won two games in an ITF Level One Tournament and won the championship of the Lee Duk-hee Cup International Juniors Tournament. Both of them won ITF scholarships last year and accumulated precious experience on the European tour for two months.

To bring his seniors ranking up to the 200s this year, Jun Woong-sun will be going on tours without rest starting from beginning of the year. He will fly to the United Arab Emirates on January 7 and participate in a tournament there. Then he will move to Qatar and participate in three tournaments.

Kim Sun-yong’s goal this year is to win the championship in the juniors division of four major grand slam tournaments. He will also depart Korea on January 12 to start preparing for the Australian Open, the first major tournament, which will start at the end of this month.

Jun Woong-sun, and Kim Sun-yong, the future of Korean tennis, said, “We strengthened our backhands, which used to be our weaknesses, and we are confident that we can win.”

Receiving systematic training since they were young, and having great physiques, Jun Woong-sun (191cm, 88kg) and Kim Sun-yong (186cm, 73kg) will soon become the “second Lee Hyung-taek.”

Jong-Seok Kim kjs0123@donga.com