Kwon Soon-woo (84th, Dangjin City Hall), the first Korean to win the men's professional tennis (APT) singles tour twice, will compete in the Australian Open, the first major tournament of the season.



Soon-Woo Kwon will face Christopher Eubanks, ranked 123rd, in the first round of the Australian Open tennis singles finals, which opens in Melbourne, Australia on the 16th (local time).



The 201 cm tall Eubanks met Kwon Soon-woo once last year and won 2-1 (7-6<8-6> 1-6 6-4).



Eubanks, born in 1996, is one year older.



Kwon's win at the Adelaide International is expected to boost his world ranking to his all-time high of No. 52, while Eubanks' personal best is No. 120 last November.



The best results in major competitions are Kwon Soon-woo’s 2021 French Open 3rd round (Round of 32), and Eubanks’ last year’s US Open 2nd round.



If Kwon Soon-woo passes the first round, he will meet the winner of the match between Borna Choric (23rd, Croatia) and Jirzy Lehetzka (78th, Czech Republic) in the second round.



If you get to the 3rd round, you will most likely meet Cameron Nori (12th, England).



You can look forward to the 3rd round, your best record in the major, as well as the round of 16 if you are lucky.



Park Yong-guk, executive director of the Korea Tennis Association, said, “Compared to previous years, my ability to use the second serve has improved, and the maximum speed of the serve has improved, such as reaching 210 km in the final.” It gave me a sense of stability."



Regarding the physical burden of having to play the semi-finals and finals on the 13th and 14th for more than 2 hours and 40 minutes, and immediately play the 5th set, a major tournament on the 16th, “I gave away the 2nd set of the final, pushed back to the beginning of the 3rd set, and then came back to life. Looking at it, it seems that he has strengthened his physical strength through winter training,” he predicted, “if he moves to Melbourne and manages well before the game, it will be fine.”



Executive Director Park said, "Maybe because of the Asian Games this year (with military service issues), I cut my hair short and seem to have a strong will mentally." We can create a foothold to rise to the top 30.”



In an interview after winning the championship, Kwon Soon-woo said, "I don't think the Australian Open match luck is good," and said, "If you are a player who plays in the majors, there will be no big difference in performance."



(Photo = Getty Image Korea)