A Chinese history maker is back at the United Cup.
The first Chinese man to crack the Top 100 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Zhang Zhizhen, is again representing his country on the global stage at the United Cup. But this edition is different for the 29-year-old righty.
Zhang is No. 410 in the world after an injury-mired 2025 season during which he struggled with a shoulder injury, which dates back to when he was 15.
“I do believe sometimes during the years, a few days, I felt the shoulder was painful, but I thought the problem was gone,” Zhang told ATPTour.com. “It seemed like that last year, I felt maybe in two weeks the problem will be gone. But it was still there and we did an MRI with an injection to see the problem.”
The former World No. 31 began feeling pain in the front of his shoulder in February when he competed in Doha and Dubai. It began to subside and then became a bigger issue the following month when he traveled to the United States for the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.
The imaging showed that his injury was actually inside the shoulder and closer to the back of it rather than in the front. He would not play a competitive match for more than six months.
The next two months, Zhang did not play tennis at all. Instead, the Chinese standout did fitness every day, played on his computer and spent time with family.
“But most of the time I was running,” Zhang said with a smile.
“In those moments sometimes I was missing a bit to play tennis. I knew when the tennis would start it would get a little bit easier. To do the fitness part, the exercises, only one session of the fitness part was really tough. So I wish I had some tennis, but I could not in that moment.”
The only time Zhang left Shanghai during the period was in late April to attend the Laureus World Sports Awards in Madrid. The bulk of his time was spent staying in shape, improving his conditioning and biding his time.
Zhang began playing tennis lightly in July and did not feel too comfortable on the court when he began.
“But at least I was moving all the time on the tennis court, so I didn’t really forget about the court size,” Zhang said. “It was still okay. But to play rallies was a little bit different.”
What he was able to do was change his game. Zhang believes that his forehand swing path was what caused his injury, so the time away allowed him to totally alter his swing.
“This forehand, I wanted to change already. It was even a better moment to change completely,” Zhang said. “Without this shoulder injury, I think we wouldn’t change that and make such a big difference. We would do smaller changes to help, but now we changed everything.
“Preparation, using the power, how to transfer the power and a little bit the motion of the swing, which is everything. To be more natural and more like everyone.”
Zhang, who returned for three tournaments in China in September, will try to show the progress he has made at the United Cup. China takes on Belgium Saturday in Sydney.
