Christopher Benjamin Rungkat (born 14 January 1990) is an Indonesian

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...

player. In 2008, he won the final stage of

French Open 2008 The 2008 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 112th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 25 May until 8 J ...

Boys' Doubles Juniors category with Finnish tennis player Henri Kontinen.(11 June 2008
French Open glory for Indonesian junior player
'' Jakarta Globe'', Retrieved 6 November 2010 He is the youngest ever Indonesian to be the All Indonesian Champion, and by the end of his junior career, he was awarded for Indonesian best promising athlete 2008. Rungkat also reached the final of the 2008 US Open boys' final with Henri Kontinen. Rungkat is the first Indonesian to reach US open boys' finalist and to win the doubles title of

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and v ...

. In June 2010, he won the Tarakan Open International Men's Futures tournament, his first international tournament title since going pro.(13 June 2010
Christopher Brings Home Tarakan Title
, '' Jakarta Globe'', Retrieved 6 November 2010 He won his maiden ATP title in Men's Doubles partnered with Swedish player

André Göransson André Göransson (born 30 April 1994) is a Swedish tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 773, achieved on 25 September 2017, and in doubles a ranking of world No. 62, achieved on 17 January 2022. So he is the curr ...

in February 2020, 13 years since going pro.

Personal life

He is the grandson of Benny Rungkat, former chairman of the Indonesian Air Carriers Association. Christopher's father, Michael Alexander Fritz Rungkat, is of Dutch and Indonesian descent and his mother, Elfia Mirlianti, is full Indonesian descent. Christopher Rungkat partnered up with PocariID in 2007 for a project called Pocari Sweat Sport Science hoping to help Christopher maximize his performance.

Career

Christopher Rungkat spent his junior career in Europe by playing on the European Junior Circuit and was based in Tennis Val (Valencia, Spain). He is the second Asian male player to win a junior French Open doubles title, after

Kei Nishikori is an inactive Japanese professional tennis player. He is the second male Japanese player to have been ranked in the top 5 in singles (after Jiro Sato), and the only one to do so in the Open Era. Nishikori first reached his career-high sing ...

. He was the winner of the Men's Singles title at the

2017 Southeast Asian Games Seventeen or 17 may refer to: * 17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanese ...

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

. A year later at the

2018 Asian Games The 2018 Asian Games ( id, Pesta Olahraga Asia 2018 or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, was a Asia, continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 A ...

in his home country, Rungkat was partnered up with Aldila Sutjiadi for the Mixed Doubles category in just two weeks, and was not targeted to grab any medals. However, they surprised with getting the gold medal after producing a couple of upsets and eventually beating Thai pair Sonchat Ratiwatana and

Luksika Kumkhum Luksika "Luk" Kumkhum ( th, ลักษิกา คำขำ; ; born 21 July 1993) is a Thai tennis player. She turned professional in 2011, and reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 66 on 19 November 2018. On 16 July 2018, she ...

in the end to get the gold medal. He started 2019 with a title i
Da Nang Vietnam Airlines Tennis Open
with partner Cheng-Peng Hsieh beating former world number 1 in the doubles semi-final

Leander Paes Leander Adrian Paes ( ; born 17 June 1973) is an Indian former professional tennis player. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players ever. He holds the record for the most doubles wins in the Davis Cup. Paes won eight men ...

and partner

Divij Sharan Divij Sharan (born 2 March 1986) is an Indian professional tennis player. He specialises in doubles and competes on the ATP World Tour. He has won 5 ATP World Tour titles in men's doubles and represents India in the Davis Cup. He won a gold med ...

. In February, Rungkat reached his first doubles final

ATP Tour 250 The ATP 250 tournaments (previously known as the ''ATP World Tour 250'' tournaments, ''ATP International Series'', and ''ATP World Series'') are the lowest tier of annual men's tennis tournaments on the main ATP Tour, after the four Grand Slam to ...

at The Sofia Open with partner Cheng-Peng Hsieh. After 13 years on the ATP Tour, Rungkat won his maiden ATP title at the 250 event 2020 Maharashtra Open in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

in the

Men's Doubles Men's doubles, Women's doubles or Mixed doubles are sports having two players per side, including; * Beach volleyball * Doubles badminton * Doubles curling * Footvolley * Doubles pickleball * Doubles squash * Doubles table tennis * Doubles ...

section. Partnered with

, Rungkat defeated fourth seed and his former partner Cheng-Peng Hsieh who competed with Denys Molchanov 3–6, 6–4, 0–8in the first round to advance to the quarterfinal. They then surprised the French team of Benoît Paire and Antoine Hoang in straight sets 6–3, 6–3 before securing a spot in the final with a win over

Romain Arneodo Romain Arneodo (born 4 August 1992) is a French-born Monegasque professional tennis player who specializes in doubles.(in FrenchRomain Arneodo pourra représenter Monaco en Coupe Davis sur ''codesport.fr'', 30 septembre 2013 From 2008 to 2013, ...

and

Andre Begemann Andre Begemann (born 12 July 1984) is a German inactive professional tennis player. He is a doubles specialist who reached his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 36, achieved in May 2015. He has a career-high singles ranking of No. 166, ac ...

6–4, 7–6^(7–1). In the final, the pairing defeated third seed

Jonathan Erlich Jonathan Dario "Yoni" Erlich ( he, יונתן דאריו "יוני" ארליך, born 5 April 1977) is an Israeli former professional tennis player. During his career, he was mainly a doubles specialist, having won the men's doubles title at the ...

and Andrei Vasilevski 6–2, 3–6, 0–8

Awards and nominations

ATP career finals

Doubles: 1 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Challenger and Futures finals

Singles: 17 (11 titles, 6 runner-ups)

Doubles: 79 (47 titles, 32 runner-ups)

Junior Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

ITF Junior finals

Singles: 5 (4 titles, 1 runner-up)

Doubles: 22 (13 titles, 9 runner-ups)

National representation

Multi-sports event

Rungkat made his debut representing Indonesia in multi-sports event at the

2007 Southeast Asian Games The 2007 Southeast Asian Games ( th, กีฬาแห่งเอเชียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้ 2007, Kila haeng echiye tawan oak chiyeng tai 2007), officially known as the 24th Southeast Asian Games, was a Sout ...

, he won the men's team silver medal and men's doubles bronze medal. In all, Rungkat has won one medal

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until th ...

, three medals

Islamic Solidarity Games The Islamic Solidarity Games ( ar, ألعاب التضامن الإسلامي) is a multinational, multi-sport event. The Games involve the elite athletes of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation who compete in a variety of sports. The Solidar ...

, and fourteen medals

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, also known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with supe ...

Singles: 3 (3 gold)

Doubles: 4 (2 gold, 2 bronze)

Mixed Doubles: 5 (3 gold, 2 silver)

Team: 6 (2 gold, 3 silver, 1 bronze)

References

External links