Juncheng Shang does not forget Marcelo Ríos. The Chilean tennis legend made his debut as the coach of the Chinese promise, who was already noted as one of the great promises of the circuit. Today, at just 17 years old, he is getting ready to debut at the Australian Open.
The relationship between the two, however, lasted just three months. They were worth nothing ten wins, two losses, a challenger title, the final of another and a jump from position 362 to 195 in the world ranking in the short time they worked together. From one moment to the next, the young Chinese promise fired Marcelo Ríos.
“They didn’t give me any reason why we broke up. They didn’t tell me ‘you don’t like how you dress up‘. Not even one smell. I learned this from my agent, who tells me ‘bad news, you’re not going to continue with Jerry’. I said ‘oh, perfect’. And I was just on the plane from Atlanta to Sarasota. I got out and caught Jerry and his parents by surprise and asked them ‘so we broke up?’. They didn’t expect me to know, they planned to tell me through the agent. And the dad says ‘yes’ to me. I replied ‘the crack, everything perfect, but I would love to know the reason why we broke up’. Then, the father starts talking and I don’t understand him at all. Then I say, ‘Jerry, can you explain it to me?’ And he answers me ‘my dad says…’explained Marcelo Ríos to El Deportivo, in September.
Today, Juncheng Shang brings out his voice to remember the episode. “It was disrespectful. For me and my family, the most important thing is to be a good person, to respect others. It is the most important thing that I want to show on and off the field, and with Marcelo I think that that was not being expressed one hundred percent. It’s a shame it didn’t work out,” Shang told Clay tennis magazine.
Shang continued with his analysis. “I mean, she was very nice to me and hopes for the best for me, but I don’t want to give the details of what really happened,” she said. “There was no natural feeling at the end. We started very well winning at Lexington, which was a tremendous confidence boost. Having had a former world number one is a very special feeling, it was a very good experience, sadly it didn’t work out in the end, ”she closes.
