Michael Te-pei Chang (born February 22, 1972) is an American former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked world No. 2 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in 1996. Chang is the youngest man in history to win a singles major, winning the 1989 French Open at 17 years and 109 days old. He is the first tennis player of Asian descent, male or female, to win a Grand Slam singles title. He won a total of 34 ATP Tour-level singles titles, including seven Masters titles, and was a three-time major runner-up.
Chang was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2008. He coached Kei Nishikori from 2014 to 2025, and currently coaches Learner Tien.
Michael Te-Pei Chang was born to Joe and Betty Chang on February 22, 1972, in Hoboken, New Jersey. Chang's parents had emigrated to the United States from Taiwan. His father, Joe Chang, had come to the United States to attend graduate school at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken.
After moving from Hoboken to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he learned tennis, Chang and his family moved first to Placentia, California, and then to Encinitas, California, to increase the tennis opportunities for him and his older brother, Carl. Growing up, Chang learned some Chinese from his Taiwanese parents and can speak Mandarin. Betty quit her job as a chemist to travel with Chang on tour. After rising to #163 in the world as a 15-year-old amateur, Chang dropped out of tenth grade at San Dieguito High School in Encinitas to pursue a professional tennis career. He received his GED in February 1988.
Chang first came to the tennis world's attention at age 12 as an outstanding junior player who set numerous "youngest-ever" records. At age 12 he also won his first national title, the USTA Junior Hard Court singles. At age 13, he won the Fiesta Bowl 16s. In July 1987, at the age of 15, Chang won another USTA Junior Hard Court singles, beating Pete Sampras in the final, and a month later, in Kalamazoo, he won America’s most prestigious junior event, the United States Nationals U18s tournament, beating Jim Courier in the final. This victory earned him a wildcard for the U.S. Open.
Chang was introduced to tennis by his father Joe, who was his first coach. During his rise in 1989 (including his French Open title), he was coached by José Higueras. For much of his professional career, he was coached by his older brother Carl Chang, who also played in several doubles tournaments with him in the early 1990s.
Chang's success marked the start of an era in which a new generation of American players—which also included Pete Sampras, Jim Courier, and Andre Agassi—would come to dominate the game.
On 1 September 1987, at age 15, Chang became the youngest player to win a main draw match at the US Open when he defeated Paul McNamee in four sets (6–3, 6–7, 6–4, 6-4) in the first round. A month later, he reached the semifinals at the Scottsdale Open, to become the youngest player to reach the semifinal stage of a top-level professional tournament.
In 1988, aged 16 years and seven months, he won his first top-level singles title at the Transamerica Open, defeating Johan Kriek in the final. During his title run, Chang registered a 6-4, 6-0 win over Mikael Pernfors, the 1986 French Open finalist who just the previous week had beaten Andre Agassi in the finals of the Los Angeles Open.
Chang's most significant "youngest-ever" record came in 1989 when he won the French Open at the age of 17 years, 110 days, to become the youngest male player ever to win a Grand Slam title. He defeated Stefan Edberg in a five-set final, 6–1, 3–6, 4–6, 6–4, 6–2. Chang thus became the first American man to win the French Open since Tony Trabert in 1955, and the first American man to win a Grand Slam since 1984. Chang's 1989 French Open tournament performance is equally remembered for overcoming significant cramps during an epic fourth-round encounter with Ivan Lendl, who was then the world's No. 1-ranked player, reigning Australian Open champion, and a three-time former French Open champion.
In 1988, Chang had been easily beaten by Lendl in an exhibition match held in Des Moines, Iowa. After the match, Lendl advised Chang, "First off, you've got no serve. And you've certainly got no second serve. You can't hurt me. You can run but you better develop a weapon to survive out here", all weaknesses that Chang worked to improve on.
At the 1989 French Open, Lendl appeared to be on the way to beating Chang after taking the first two sets 6–4, 6–4 and breaking Chang's serve in his opening service game of the third set. However, Chang broke back immediately and went on to claim the third set, 6–3. During the fourth set, Chang experienced a severe attack of leg cramps, and though he won the set to level the match, he considered retiring from the match while up 2–1 in the fifth set. He later said that he felt "an unbelievable conviction in my heart" not to give up, and decided to finish the match. Chang adopted some unusual tactics in an attempt to overcome his cramps. Those tactics included hitting shots high into the air (known as "moon balls") to slow the match down and going for more winners in order to shorten the points. The success of these tactics caused the normally unfazed Lendl to lose his rhythm and also prompted him to swear at the umpire and the crowd, especially after losing a key point in the fifth set when Chang shocked him by delivering an under-arm serve. On match point, Chang stood just behind the service line while waiting to receive Lendl's second serve, a move that was considered suicidal. The tactic worked as the crowd became bemused which in turn caused Lendl to lose his cool and produce a double-fault on his second serve, giving Chang the victory, 4–6, 4–6, 6–3, 6–3, 6–3, in 4 hours and 37 minutes.
Chang subsequently defeated Ronald Agénor in the quarter-final and Andrei Chesnokov in the semi-final. Then seven days after his match against Lendl, after beating Stefan Edberg in five sets, Chang went on to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires, becoming the youngest Grand Slam men's singles champion history. Chang became the first American man to win the French Open since Tony Trabert in 1955, and the first American man to win a Grand Slam since 1984. In August 1989, Chang became the youngest player to be ranked in the world's top 5.
Chang's match against Lendl was played on June 5, 1989, just one day after the height of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Chang has frequently noted the impact of the massacre when recalling his French Open victory:
A lot of people forget that Tiananmen Square was going on. The crackdown that happened was on the middle Sunday at the French Open, so if I was not practicing or playing a match, I was glued to the television, watching the events unfold...I often tell people I think it was God's purpose for me to be able to win the French Open the way it was won because I was able to put a smile on Chinese people's faces around the world at a time when there wasn't much to smile about.
Chang would defeat Lendl again in near-duplicate fashion, 2–6, 4–6, 6–4, 7–6 (7–5), 9–7 in a 4-hour, 42-minute semi-final match at the Grand Slam Cup on December 14, 1991.
Chang met Edberg in the semifinals of the US Open in 1992; this time, Edberg won in five sets, 6–7, 7–5, 7–6, 5–7, 6–4. The five-hour, 26-minute match is the second longest in US Open history. Chang reached three further Grand Slam finals after his 1989 French Open triumph, losing the 1995 French Open final to Thomas Muster, the 1996 Australian Open final to Boris Becker, and the 1996 US Open final to Pete Sampras. In the 1995 French Open, he defeated Michael Stich and then two-time defending champion Sergi Bruguera in the semifinals in straight sets, eventually losing to Muster. In both the 1996 Australian and U.S. Opens, he defeated Andre Agassi in the semifinals in straight sets; a win over Sampras at the U.S. Open would have made Chang the no. 1 player in the world. In the 1997 U.S. Open, he was the odds-on favorite to win after Sampras was upset by Petr Korda; however, Chang lost to eventual champion Patrick Rafter in the semifinals in straight sets.