MELBOURNE, Australia — Pressure? You think Hyeon Chung playing in his first Grand Slam semifinal at age 21 is pressure?
Friday’s match at the Australian Open — Chung’s first against Roger Federer — will certainly be a high-profile one, but through Chung’s lenses, the stakes were much higher in September 2014 when he was competing in men’s doubles at the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, in his home country.
Win the gold medal with his partner, Yong-kyu Lim, and they would be exempt from South Korea’s mandatory 21-month military service — a reward reserved for Korean athletes who win titles in major international competitions.