Michael Chang

Michael Te-pei Chang (born February 22, 1972) is an American former professional tennis player and coach. He is the youngest man in history to win a singles major, winning the 1989 French Open at 17 years and 109 days old. Chang won a total of 34 top-level professional singles titles, (including seven Masters titles) was a three-time major runner-up, and reached a career-best ranking of world No. 2 in 1996. Since he was shorter than virtually all of his opponents, he played a dogged defensive style utilizing his quickness and speed. In 2008, Chang was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He began coaching Kei Nishikori in 2014. Early life Michael Te-Pei Chang was born to Joe and Betty Chang on February 22, 1972 in Hoboken, New Jersey. Chang's parents had emigrated to the United States from Taiwan. After moving from Hoboken to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he learned tennis, Chang and his family moved first to Placentia, California, and then to Encinitas, California to increase the tennis opportunities for him and his older brother, Carl. Growing up, Chang learned some Chinese from his Taiwanese parents and can speak Mandarin. Betty quit her job as a chemist to travel with Chang on tour. After rising to #163 in the world as a 15-year-old amateur, Chang dropped out of tenth grade at San Dieguito High School in Encinitas to pursue a professional tennis career. He received his GED in February 1988.