Kwon Soon-woo expects to return from injury at U.S. Open

Kwon Soon-woo returns the ball against Belgium's David Goffin during a singles match during the Davis Cup tennis qualifiers in Seoul on Feb. 5. [AFP/YONHAP]

Korean tennis player Kwon Soon-woo expects to return from injury later this month and compete at the U.S. Open, his agency Leeco Sports said Monday.

Kwon flew to the United States on Aug. 5 and will train in Florida for the next three weeks before moving to New York ahead of the U.S. Open starting on Aug. 28.

Kwon, who has been the top-ranked Korean tennis player for the last few years, started the year on good form, winning the Adelaide International in January.

Any chance of turning that early win into a good run this year came crashing down in February when pain in his shoulder took him out of contention. He spent the last six months resting and rehabilitating, but has felt fit to play since the middle of July, according to Leeco.

That period on the sidelines — Kwon has not competed in an official competition since the Qatar Exxonmobil Open in February — pushed his ATP Tour rankings down from No. 52 in January to its current 105.

To get back into the competition, he will have to play his way through the qualifying rounds at the U.S. Open, which he is currently set to enter as the fifth-highest ranked player.

Kwon has never reached the third round at the U.S. Open, crashing out in the second round in both 2020 and last year.

Kwon currently has two ATP Tour titles, the Adelaide International earlier this year and the Astana Open title that he won in 2021 in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. He was only the second Korean player ever to win an ATP title, after Lee Hyung-taik, who won the Sydney International in 2003.

Following the U.S. Open, Kwon is expected to be back on the court in September as he represents Team Korea in the Davis Cup finals. Korea has been drawn in Group C at the tournament, alongside Spain, Serbia and the Czech Republic.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]