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Friday, March 29, 2024

Marcelo Rios sounds off on rising Chinese star dad who fired him for ‘no reason’

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1998 Australian Open finalist Marcelo Rios suggested he was fired by Juncheng Shang because the 17-year-old’s father wanted him gone. Shang, who is currently enjoying a career-high ranking of No. 195 in the world, is one of the most promising young players on the ATP Tour.

“They didn’t give me a reason. Not even ‘we don’t like they way you dress’ Asked Jerry [Juncheng] and he told me ‘my dad’, so I understood everything,” Rios told La Tercera, as revealed by Jose Morgado.

This season, Shang has made two Challenger – one won Challenger title – and also collected a Futures title.

Rios is 100% sure that he wasn’t fired because of Shang’s results of performance. “His parents don’t give him any space. They are always with him and that hurts the kid. I wasn’t fired because of results, he made two finals and was #190 ATP.

But I will be honest: didn’t enjoy my time with that father,” Rios added.

Rios had a hard time dealing with Shang’s father

“For me, a professional should practice twice per day on court + physical.

Shang was doing 2 hours per day, wakes up at 12pm, every little pain and we stop. In the week that his dad had covid we didn’t practice. Such a different and tough culture to understand,” Rios claimed.

In August, Shang made back-to-back Challenger finals in Lexington and Granby.

Shang went all the way in Lexington, while he ended runner-up in Granby. After being out of action for two weeks, Shang returned to action at last week’s Cary Challenger. In Cary, Shang suffered a three-set defeat to Jordan Thompson in the round-of-16.

Overall, it has been a good and positive year for Shang result-wise. Shang, who started the year as the 666th-ranked player in the world, is now inside the top-200. With a few more notable results in the rest of the year, Shang could very well broke into the top-150.

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