Full name Lee Duck-hee Career titles 6 ITF Country (sports) South Korea Name Lee Duck-hee | Residence Jecheon, South Korea Role Tennis Player Prize money $33,937 | |
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Born 29 May 1998 (age 25)
Jecheon, South Korea ( 1998-05-29 ) Plays Right-handed (two handed-backhand) | ||
[Arirang TV] Rising tennis star Lee Duck hee
Lee Duck-hee (이덕희; born 29 May 1998 in Jecheon) is a South Korean junior tennis player. He has won 10 titles on the ITF Junior Circuit as a teenager, including Grade 2 tournaments in Nanjing and Sarawak.
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Personal life
Lee was born deaf. On the tennis court, he can hear vibrations, but must rely on hand gestures to pick up line calls and the umpire. In 2015, his story was included during a campaign for an ANZ Bank, which was a sponsor for the Australian Open that year.
Junior career
On the junior tour, Lee has been ranked as high as No. 3 in the ITF Junior Combined rankings.
Early years
Lee made his debut on the ITF Futures tour at the age of 14, and began regularly playing events in Asia by the age of 15. Before turning 18, he already won 8 titles and cracked the Top 250 of the ATP rankings. After struggling early on at the Challenger level in 2015, he saw some increased success in 2016. Towards the end of the year, he reached two semi-finals and one final on the ATP Challenger Tour, the latter of which he lost to his compatriot Chung Hyeon, who was the top-ranked Korean player at the time. Lee finished 2016 ranked inside the Top 150 as the 3rd-highest ranked 18 year old (behind Americans Frances Tiafoe and Stefan Kozlov) and 11th-highest ranked player under 21.
