WASHINGTON (AFP) – Lee Duck-hee became the first deaf player to win an ATP match on Monday, making a statement with a straight-sets win over Henri Laaksonen in Winston-Salem.
“People made fun of me for my disability. They told me I shouldn’t be playing,” the 21-year-old South Korean said after shrugging off a lengthy rain delay to post a 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 victory.
“It was definitely difficult, but my friends and family helped me get through,” Lee said. “I wanted to show everyone that I could do this. My message for people who are hearing impaired is to not be discouraged. If you try hard, you can do anything.”
Lee, ranked 212 in the world, turned pro at 15 and achieved his best ATP singles ranking of 130th in the world in 2017, toiling mainly on the developmental Challenger circuit.
He admits that his disability can make life on court frustrating: he can’t hear line calls or the umpire’s call of the score and relies on gestures to sort out any confusion.
At Lee’s post-match press conference on Monday, his fiancee pitched in to help out a Korean translator.
It was the end of a long day for Lee, who was two points from victory when thunderstorms swept through the area.
When he and Switzerland’s Laaksonen returned some five hours later Lee quickly polished off a win he admitted he hadn’t been expecting.
MURRAY LOSES ANEW
Meantime, Andy Murray showed glimpses of his once-dominant self, but was inconsistent in a 7-6 (10-8), 7-5 loss to 73rd-ranked American Tennys Sandgren in a match lasting 2 hours and 10 minutes.
“Some things were a bit better today I think,” Murray said. “I was hitting the ball a bit cleaner than I did maybe in Cincinnati… I feel like I moved fairly well to some drop shots, which maybe last week I wasn’t running to.”
”So there’s some good things in there but also some stuff I would like to do better.”
Murray did not even reach the court until after 10 pm, thanks to a lengthy rain delay that pushed back his start time by more than three hours.
Sandgren gutted out a tough service hold in an opening game that went to deuce nine times, saving one break point as they went to the first-set decider without a break of serve.
The American needed four set points — and saved one — in taking the tiebreaker.
A deflated Murray was quickly down 3-0 with two breaks of serve in the second.
He clawed one back, and broke again when Sandgren coughed up two double faults while serving for the match at 5-4.
