ITF Class of 2022: Bu Yunchaokete
Bu Yunchaokete may not be particularly well-known amongst even the most ardent of tennis followers, but the 20-year-old from China produced a 2022 season on the ITF World Tennis Tour that suggests we might be seeing plenty more of him in the years to come.
A junior world No. 5 back in 2018, Yunchaokete had waited a long time to get his professional career up and running and, when the moment finally arrived in 2022, he seized the opportunity with both hands.
Despite beginning the season unranked, the six-foot Hangzhou native claimed a tour-leading six ITF singles titles during 2022, a tally matched only by Australian Dane Sweeney, and rattled off 61 match-wins to rocket to No. 306 in the world. He was also proficient on the doubles court, reaching seven finals and claiming three titles - all in Monastir.
Only two men, Skander Mansouri and Terence Atmane (64 wins), produced more ITF singles match-victories during the year than the Chinese player, which is all-the-more impressive given that Yunchaokete’s stuttered start to professional tennis had taken in a mere six tournaments - and just two match-wins - in five years between 2017 and 2021.
With his eye on a targeted push up the rankings, Yunchaokete set up something of a base camp in the Tunisian city of Monastir in 2022 for a series of M15 events. He was rewarded for both the approach and his persistence, reaching two quarter-finals, a semi-final, and then finally – for the first time in 18 tournament attempts – a maiden professional singles final in late April.
Victory over Italian Mattia Bellucci was the confidence-boost he needed. It sparked a run of three consecutive titles at M15 Monastir, and a 17-match winning streak that he carried through to the quarter-finals at M25 Chiang Rai in early June.
Unlike Sweeney, whose six ITF singles titles during the season all came on home soil in Australia, Yunchaokete proved versatile on the road, and soon adapted to his new surroundings in Thailand. He launched another winning run, pocketing 13 wins in 14 matches in Chiang Rai (dropping just two sets in the process) to claim his fourth and fifth titles of the year, before scooping a sixth title at M25 Tbilisi in Georgia.
He would go on to qualify for the main draw at ATP Challengers in Alicante and Ismaning in October, before adding three more M25 semi-finals, as well as another runner-up finish at M25 Monastir last week, to his season’s work.
Yunchaokete has a track record for prolific spells of form. As a junior, he won seven titles during an excellent 2018 season, embarking on a 21-match winning streak at one point, and collected 13 boys’ singles titles overall. His distinguished junior career culminated in his participation at the prestigious ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals in Chengdu in 2019.
That his undoubted potential is beginning to come to fruition in the professional game is excellent news for Chinese men’s tennis, which is in as strong shape as it has ever been.
Zhang Zhizhen, the nation’s current No. 1, became the first Chinese man to crack the ATP’s Top 100 in October and has set a high bar for his compatriots to follow after climbing as high as No. 97.
Yunchaokete, following his blistering season on the ITF World Tennis Tour, now completes a quartet of Top 400 players from the nation along with Zhang, world No. 117 Wu Yibing and promising 17-year-old Juncheng Shang (who featured in the ITF’s Class of 2021).
The foundations are very much in place. Question is, can Bu follow it through?