Despite the meteoric rise of the Chinese Juncheng Shang under the direction of Marcelo Ríos, the young tennis player made the decision to fire the former number one in the world, who recounted the situation with luxury and detail.
After two months of work and a rise from 362nd to 195th in the ATP ranking, in the last few hours, the young Chinese tennis player Juncheng Shang decided to end his relationship with Marcelo Ríos as his coach.
A decision that took the former number one in the world by surprise, who acknowledged, in conversation with Thirdfind out about this news through his agent and that, at no time, was the reason for his dismissal explained in detail.
“They didn’t give me any reason why we broke up. Not a hueá. I learned this from my agent.”began by recognizing the ‘Chinese’, alluding to a kind of snub on the part of the promising Asian athlete and his entourage.
In this regard, Ríos recounted what happened hours after his dismissal: “I was just on the plane from Atlanta to Sarasota. I got out and caught Jerry (Shang) and his parents by surprise. I asked them, ‘So we’re done?’ They didn’t expect me to know, they thought to tell me through the agent. And the dad tells me ‘yes’. I replied: ‘The crack, everything is perfect, but I would love to know the reason why we ended.’ So, the dad starts talking and I don’t understand him or split. Then I say to him: ‘Jerry, can you explain it to me?’ And he replies: ‘My dad says… “”.
In this sense, the native of Santiago pointed to Shang’s father and revealed the severe family problems that he had to witness from the inner circle of his former pupil.
“I think this was a father’s decision. It wasn’t Jerry’s decision. Besides, the mom and dad hold each other all day and that hurts the asshole… It’s super difficult to live with them, I’m not giving an excuse for anything… But the guy made two finals and is 190 °. So, by results they cannot egg”he stated.
On the other hand, the ‘Chino’ recognized that, from the first day, there were endless problems of communication and understanding, both with Shang and with his father, which were amplified as time went by, becoming practically unsustainable , according to the Chilean.
“Communication with him was very bad, since he didn’t talk much and everything I said to him, he answered ‘yes, yes, yes’. And what you want, when you have someone, is that they tell you the things they want to train, what bothers them or what is not right for them… I could never know what he was thinking or what he really wanted”confessed Ríos, who also detailed a fight in the middle of the match between him and Shang’s father due to misunderstandings.
Despite the discomfort and anger of the Masters 1000 multi-champion, who expressed his anger at being “the only number one in history who is a coach in the Challengers”, he stressed that he managed to say goodbye to the young Chinese promise.
“I told him, ‘Jerry, I wish you the best. You play very well, but you lack a lot. You have a lot to learn. Good luck in the future. Anything you need, just call me’. I think he didn’t want to, but here it is a decision of the parents and he has nothing to say… The asshole is the crack. He needs to change that mentality and be a dog on the pitch. If he really got the shit out of him, he can be really good.”hill.
It should be noted that under the direction of Marcelo Ríos, Juncheng Shang achieved ten wins in twelve matches, a Challenger title and the runner-up in another.