Duckhee Lee became the first deaf player to win a match on the ATP Tour when he beat Henri Laaksonen 7-6(4), 6-1 in the first round of the Winston-Salem Open on Monday night. It was the first-ever tour-level match for the 21-year-old South Korean, who has mostly been playing Challengers and Futures,
Lee held nine of 10 service games while striking nine aces.
“People made fun of me for my disability,” the world No. 212 said through a translator. “They told me I shouldn’t be playing. It was definitely difficult, but my friends and family helped me get through. 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.”
Fellow professionals were already impressed, and that will certainly be the case to an even greater extent if Lee continues to make headlines on the main tour.
“I beat him a few years ago and he came up to me with a Google translator after the match and said, ‘What are my weaknesses?’ reflected Tennys Sandgren, who defeated Andy Murray 7-6(8), 7-5 on Monday in Winston-Salem. “For someone who’s deaf and doesn’t speak English well at all, to put yourself out there like that… I wouldn’t do it! It was really cool.
“You learn so much about how your opponent hits the ball based on the sound of the shot. If you can’t hear it…you have to have insane skill and insane talent.”
“If I was to play with headphones on, it’s unbelievably difficult to pick up the speed of the ball–the spin that’s coming off the racket,” Murray explained. “We use our ears a lot to pick things up. It’s obviously a huge disadvantage, so to be able to do what he’s doing is a huge effort.”
Next up for Lee is Hubert Hurkacz during second-round action on Tuesday.
“I’m going to go to the match with the same attitude,” he said. “I’m going to do my best and see what happens.”
way to go, Duck
Great story!
I could imagine that the greatest challenges might arise offcourt when he is travelling outside of South Korea. He learned to lip-read as a kid. This makes him independent from sign language in Korea – but he doesn’t have this advantage abroad. It must’ve taken a lot of courage to embark onto the pro tour as a teenager. I hope he will continue to have as much joy and success as possible!
Something else: it has been mentioned in many articles about Duck Hee Lee, how important sound is for calculating the trajectory of the ball when it hits and then leaves the opponent’s racquet and whistles through the air, and how much of a disadvantage it is for a deaf player not to be able to hear anything. But doesn’t that strengthen the argument that excessive grunting, whistling and whailing during rallyes is plain old cheating, since it disguises the sounds during ball exchanges? Obviously I’m not talking about the kind of involuntary moaning which is the byproduct of hard physical activity. I’m talking about those players who curiously only produce these annoying and excessive noises during competitive matches but are quiet as a mouse during training sessions 😉 While some men are noisier than others, too, this problem has plagued women’s tennis to a point where those who watched their matches on tv, have started to use the mute button because it became so annoying. This problem has been frequently discussed from the perspective of an increasingly alienated audience. But for those players who get subjected to steam engine whistles by their noisy opponents, it could create a serious disadvantage. I agree with those who call it cheating.
Big grats to Dukhee Lee on his first ATP level match win! And good for him and his family to follow his dream.
I’ve read before about how important the sound of the ball coming off the server’s racquet is. It’s why players wait for the crowd to quiet before serving.
Inspiring person. I’ve been rooting for Duckhee to somehow keep going and rising in the ranks. Congratulations and Keep fighting Duckhee! You are awesome.