Australian Open: Hyeon Chung ensures top odds

Hyeon Chung has not only convinced the fans in Melbourne, but also the TV viewers in South Korea: The broadcasting subscription channel reports astonishing ratings.

It’s no exaggeration to say more than three decades after Boris Becker’s first triumph in Wimbledon: When the German defeated Kevin Curren in the 1985 final on Church Road, the whole nation watched. On public television, with virtually no alternatives. Even when the private broadcaster RTL secured the rights to the most important tennis tournament of the year – and Becker, Steffi Graf and Michael Stich played for the titles for years – the euphoria of German tennis fans was expressed in high double-digit TV ratings.

However, in free-to-air TV – in a country with a long tradition of sport. And with spectators who also knew how to get started in tennis with heroes such as Jimmy Connors, Björn Borg or John McEnroe.

The situation in South Korea is different. All the more remarkable are the odds that Hyeon Chung’s appearances at the Australian Open brought to the broadcasting station. More than ten percent of all national TV viewers used the subscription channel JTBC to follow Chung’s brief appearance against Roger Federer at the Rod Laver Arena. Comparable odds are unthinkable in this country, even a top match between FC Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund would not even bring SKY close to the nationwide ten percent mark.

Incidentally, the prospects that Chung’s newly gained popularity will also have a positive effect on tennis in South Korea are not bad. At least there would be a precedent in professional sport: In 1998, golfer Se-Ri Pak sensationally won the US Open, and since then the women’s discipline has been dominated by South Koreans.