Mumbai: A fortnight ago, Buyunchaokete, who goes by Bu Yunchaokete or simply Bu on the professional tennis tour, lost in the first round of an ATP Challenger in Canada. Last week, the Chinese won the first two rounds and lost the last in the qualifying event for the US Open.
That was on Friday. Bu had his tickets booked for Wednesday to leave the season-ending Grand Slam and return to professional tennis’ second tier, where hundreds in his ranking bracket grind for a living.
The world No.124 had entered as the last man in the lucky losers’ list. Lucky losers – players who lose in the final qualifying round may apply to fill in for last-minute main draw withdrawals – have to sign in each day on the morning of first-round matches. They then must remain at the venue all day hoping that someone else’s misfortune turns into their fortune.
As the fifth out, Bu did not have much hope. Still, he hung around at Flushing Meadows. Around noon on Tuesday, while he was sitting in the lounge, he was told he could play after Thanasi Kokkinakis pulled out of his match against Rafael Jodar.
“I was like, wow, I’m super excited,” said Bu. “It doesn’t matter if I have to stay here from 8am or 8pm. I can be here all day, 24 hours.”
{{/usCountry}}“I was like, wow, I’m super excited,” said Bu. “It doesn’t matter if I have to stay here from 8am or 8pm. I can be here all day, 24 hours.”
{{/usCountry}}Around 24 hours later, with rain pushing opening-round matches into Wednesday, he checked into US Open’s Stadium 17 instead of flying out of New York. Hours later, after another rain delay, Bu checked out with a stunning drubbing of Jodar in which he gave the 12th seed just four games through a 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 romp.
The 24-year-old handed the 19-year-old his heaviest defeat of a season, which has seen the Spanish sensation rise from 165th to 13th in the world rankings, win an ATP 250 title, make the last eight at the French Open and the semi-final of the ATP Masters in Montreal last month.
“I was really a lucky loser,” said Bu.
Bu is guaranteed to earn $190,000 for the victory. That’s more than half his entire season’s prize money payout of $326,418. Bu got the feel of a Grand Slam main draw win for the first time. That’s after exiting in the first round of six straight Slams from the 2024 US Open to the 2026 Australian Open, and then in the qualifiers of Paris and London.
“If I have to win my first match like this, I’m okay with losing 5-6 times before,” Bu told the media.
A mismatch on paper, it was a mismatch on court too. Just not in the way most expected.
Bu did not give the season’s standout young player any chance, even after a rain break in the third set gave some respite to Jodar. The unfancied Chinese player did not face a single break point, won 84% points behind his first serve, 11 out of 13 net points and fired six more winners than Jodar. The off-colour Spaniard littered 37 unforced errors, but the Chinese remained red-hot all through.
“I really had nothing to lose,” said Bu. “I was just enjoying the call (up), enjoying the court, and playing one of the best players this year.”
Born in Xinjiang and raised by his grandparents after the death of his father, Bu began playing tennis at age six after being scouted among hundreds of kids to join one of China’s sports schools for tennis in Huzhou. Like most budding tennis players in the country, two-time Grand Slam champion Li Na was an inspiration for Bu. Men’s tennis, however, hasn’t scaled the kind of heights women’s tennis has in China.
Thus, growing up, Bu’s goal was to break into the top 100 – much like it is for most young singles players in India. Unlike with India, though, China had four men get into double-digit rankings over the last three years.
“We had a lot of good players in the women’s side, but not so much in the men’s side,” Bu said. “When I was young, all the players around me had that goal (top 100). And we have four players now in the last 2-3 years.”
That includes Bu, who reached a career-high world No.64 in April last year. Putting tennis on the back burner for two years to focus on school, Bu began playing as a full-time professional only in 2022. He broke into the top 100 in 2024, the same year in which he reached consecutive ATP tour semi-finals. The second came in Beijing after beating world No.6 Andrey Rublev before going down to Jannik Sinner.
Bu’s idol is Andy Murray, whom he played (and lost to) in a Challenger in 2023. He won back-to-back Challenger titles on grass in June this year. The Chinese would probably have gone back to playing his sport’s second tier. Except, he entered the second round of a Grand Slam.