Kwon Soon-woo (; born 2 December 1997) is a South Korean professional

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player. He has been

ranked A ranking is a relationship between a set of items, often recorded in a list, such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than", or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak ...

as high as world No. 52 ranking by the ATP, achieved in November 2021 and a doubles ranking of world No. 224, attained in December 2022. Kwon has won two ATP, three

ATP Challenger Tour The ATP Challenger Tour (known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series) is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. It was founded in 1976 as a replacement for the ILTF Satellite Circuit (founded in 1971) as ...

and five

ITF World Tennis Tour The ITF Men's World Tennis Tour (formerly ''ITF Men's Circuit'') is a series of professional tennis tournaments held around the world that are organized by the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The tour represents the lowest rung of the men ...

singles titles. He broke into the top 100 of the ATP singles rankings in August 2019 after reaching the quarterfinals at the

Los Cabos Open The Los Cabos Open is a professional men's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It is part of the ATP Tour 250 series of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour. It is held annually in August in Los Cabos, Baja California S ...

and contested his first

ATP Tour The ATP Tour (known as ATP World Tour between January 2009 and December 2018) is the sole worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) founded in 1990 that replaced the earlier dual Grand Prix ...

final at the Astana Open in September 2021, where he won his maiden title and made his top 60 debut. In January 2023, he won his second

title at the Adelaide International as a lucky loser, becoming the first Korean to win multiple ATP titles and the tenth lucky loser champion overall in the

Open Era The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Edgbaston, Warwickshire, England, now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today a ...

Early life

Kwon was born in a small town Sangju and began playing tennis at age 10. He moved to Seoul at age 16 and attended high school there with

Lee Duck-hee Lee Duck-hee (; born 29 May 1998) is a South Korean professional tennis player. Personal life Lee was born deaf. On the tennis court, he can hear vibrations, but must rely on hand gestures to pick up line calls and the umpire. In 2015, his ...

, another future ATP Tour player. His father Younghun is a talented amateur tennis player and introduced him to tennis. His favorite surface is hard and favorite shots are down-the-line forehand and drop shot.

Professional career

2018–2019: ATP Tour & Grand Slam & top 100 debuts

Kwon made his tour-level and Grand Slam debut after winning the 2018 Asia-Pacific Wildcard Playoff for the main draw of the

2018 Australian Open The 2018 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played at Melbourne Park between 15 and 28 January 2018, and was the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2018 season. The tournament consisted of events for professional players in singles, double ...

. He made his top 100 debut on 5 August 2019 at world No. 97, after reaching the quarterfinals as a qualifier at the

2019 Los Cabos Open The 2019 Los Cabos Open (also known as the Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Mifel presentado por Cinemex for sponsorship reasons) was an ATP tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 4th edition of the tournament, and part of the ATP T ...

2020–2021: First major win at the US Open; French Open third round, maiden ATP title

In February 2020, Kwon reached four consecutive ATP Tour-level quarterfinals in

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

Delray Beach Delray Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population of Delray Beach as of April 1, 2020, was 66,846 according to the 2020 United States Census. Located in the Miami metropolitan area, Delray Beach is 52 miles (83 ...

and

Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , ; ), is a city and Port of Acapulco, major seaport in the Political divisions of Mexico, state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Located on a deep, semicirc ...

. As a result, Kwon rose to a career-high ranking of 69 on 2 March 2020. Kwon defeated world No. 24,

Dušan Lajović Dušan Lajović ( sr-Cyrl, Душан Лајовић; born 30 June 1990) is a Serbian professional tennis player. On 29 April 2019, he reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 23. On 21 September 2020, he peaked at No. 82 in the doubl ...

, in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals in Acapulco, which was his first

ATP 500 The ATP 500 tournaments (previously known as the ''ATP World Tour 500'' tournaments, ''ATP International Series Gold'', and ''ATP Championship Series'') are the fourth highest tier of annual men's tennis tournament after the four Grand Slam/major ...

event. He lost to eventual champion

Rafael Nadal Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...

in the quarterfinals. At the 2020 US Open Kwon recorded his first win in a Grand Slam defeating wildcard

Thai-Son Kwiatkowski Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (born February 13, 1995) is a Vietnamese American former tennis player. He played collegiately for the Virginia Cavaliers. On 29 May 2017, Kwiatkowski won the NCAA Men's Singles Championship. College career Coming out of hi ...

. Kwon reached the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career at the

2021 French Open The 2021 French Open was a Grand Slam (tennis), major level tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 30 May to 13 June 2021, comprising singles, doubles and mixed doubles pla ...

where he defeated South African Kevin Anderson and

Andreas Seppi Andreas Seppi (born 21 February 1984) is an Italian former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 on 28 January 2013. He became the first Italian to win a title on all three surfaces. Personal lif ...

before losing to another Italian ninth seed and eventual quarterfinalist

Matteo Berrettini Matteo Berrettini (; born 12 April 1996) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 6 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in January 2022, and world N ...

. Despite losing in qualifying at the

Eastbourne International The Eastbourne Open (also known as Eastbourne International, formerly Rothesay) is a tennis tournament on the WTA Tour and the ATP Tour held at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club, Eastbourne, United Kingdom. Held since 1974, it is classified as ...

, Kwon entered with a second-round bye as a

lucky loser A lucky loser is a sports competitor (player or team) who loses a match in a knockout tournament or loses in qualifying, but who then enters the main draw. This can occur when another competitor withdraws during the tournament because of illness ...

after

Reilly Opelka Reilly Opelka (born 28 August 1997) is an American professional tennis player. At , he is tied (with Ivo Karlović) for the tallest-ever Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP-ranked player, and can produce serves that measure over . He has be ...

withdrew. He made the semifinals before falling to

Alex de Minaur Alex de Minaur Román (born 17 February 1999) is an Australian professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP singles ranking of No. 6 on 15 July 2024 and a doubles ranking of No. 58 on 12 October ...

. Kwon was competing in his maiden ATP Tour semifinal after winning his first quarterfinal in his eighth attempt against

Ilya Ivashka Ilya Uladzimiravich Ivashka (; ; born 24 February 1994) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. Ivashka has a career-high singles ranking by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) of No. 40, achieved on 20 June 2022. He also has a car ...

. In

Astana Astana is the capital city of Kazakhstan. With a population of 1,423,726 within the city limits, it is the second-largest in the country after Almaty, which had been the capital until 1997. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim (river), Ishim ...

, Kwon won his first ATP Tour-level title. There, he defeated qualifier

Evgeny Donskoy Evgeny Evgenyevich Donskoy ( rus, Евге́ний Евге́ньевич Донско́й, , jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj dɐnˈskoj; born 9 May 1990) is a Russian professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 65, achieved o ...

, third seed

, and seventh seed

Laslo Đere Laslo Djere; Romanization of Serbian, Serbian Latin: ''Laslo Đere''; (born 2 June 1995) is a Serbian professional tennis player. On 10 June 2019, Djere reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 27. On 22 March 2021, he reached his ...

to reach his second ATP semifinal. In the semifinal, he defeated home favourite and second seed

Alexander Bublik Alexander Stanislavovich Bublik (; born 17 June 1997) is a Russian-born Kazakhstani professional tennis player. He has a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP singles ranking of world No. 17, achieved on 6 May 2024 and a doubles ...

to advance to his first ATP Tour-level final. He defeated James Duckworth in straight sets to win his first ATP title and became the first South Korean to win on the ATP Tour and only the second Korean to win a tour-level title in the

Open era The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Edgbaston, Warwickshire, England, now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today a ...

since 2003 Sydney champion

Hyung-Taik Lee Lee Hyung-taik (, born 3 January 1976) is a former professional tennis player from South Korea. He won one singles title and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 36, in August 2007. Personal life Lee was born in a potato-farming ...

. As a result, he reached a new career-high of No. 57 on 27 September 2021.

2022: Maiden ATP 500 singles semifinal, Australian Open doubles third round

At the

Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...

, he won his first match defeating

Holger Rune Holger Vitus Nødskov Rune (; born 29 April 2003) is a Danish professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 4 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), making him the highest-ranked Da ...

in five sets. He lost in the second round to

Denis Shapovalov Denis Viktorovich Shapovalov (born ) is a Canadian professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 10 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP, which he first achieved on September 21, 2020. Sh ...

in a tight five-set match with three tiebreaks. At

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

, he lost in the first round to the top seed and eventual champion,

Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...

, in four sets. Ranked No. 120 at the Japan Open, he reached the quarterfinals for a second time at the ATP 500-level defeating sixth seed

and

Mackenzie McDonald Michael Mackenzie Lowe McDonald (born April 16, 1995) is an American professional tennis player. He has a career-high singles ATP rankings, ranking of world No. 37, achieved on October 16, 2023 and a doubles ranking of No. 49, achieved on Octobe ...

. He defeated

Pedro Martínez Pedro Jaime Martínez (born October 25, 1971) is a Dominican-American former professional baseball starting pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from to , for five teams—most notably the Boston Red Sox from to . As of 2023, M ...

to reach his first ATP 500-level semifinal. As a result, he moved more than 30 positions up in the rankings, back into the top 100.

2023–2024: Second title won as lucky loser, hiatus, Olympics debut

He won his second career ATP title in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, defeating

Roberto Bautista Agut Roberto Bautista Agut (; born 14 April 1988) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 9 by the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP in singles, achieved on 4 November 2019. Bautista Agut ...

in three sets. In doing so, he became the first Korean to win multiple ATP titles. He became the first lucky loser to reach the final in Adelaide's tournament history and the first to win an ATP Tour title since

Marco Cecchinato Marco Cecchinato (; born 30 September 1992) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of World No. 16 reached on 25 February 2019. On 29 April 2018, he won his first ATP World Tour title at the 2018 Hunga ...

in Budapest in 2018, and the tenth lucky loser champion overall. After a six months hiatus, he returned to the 2023 US Open and the

2024 Australian Open The 2024 Australian Open was a Grand Slam level tennis tournament held at Melbourne Park, from 14 to 28 January 2024. It was the 112th edition of the Australian Open, the 56th in the Open Era, and the first major of the year. The tournament c ...

using protected ranking.

2025–2026: Military hiatus

In December 2024, Kwon announced that he would step away from tennis and fulfill his mandatory military obligation, which began in January 2025. Despite actively completing military service, Kwon is permitted to enter domestic tournaments and to represent the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

in select overseas events. In 2025 to date, Kwon has competed in a Davis Cup Qualifiers tie in Czechia, a South Korean national event, and the Busan Challenger.

Personal life

On May 22, 2023, it was confirmed that Kwon is dating singer

Yubin Yu-bin, also spelled Yoo-bin, is a Korean unisex given name. Its meaning depends on the hanja used to write each syllable of the name. People People with this name include: * Kim Yu-bin (musician) (born 1988), South Korean female singer, former m ...

Wonder Girls Wonder Girls () was a South Korean girl group formed by JYP Entertainment. The group debuted in February 2007 with the single "Irony (Wonder Girls song), Irony" and 5 members: Park Ye-eun, Yeeun, Sunye, Sunmi, Hyuna, and Ahn So-hee, Sohee. Aft ...

. On October 5, 2023, Yubin's agency confirmed their break-up.

National representation

Kwon has represented

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

in the

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...

. He was first nominated to the team for the

2017 Davis Cup The 2017 Davis Cup was the 106th edition of the Davis Cup, a tournament between national teams in men's tennis. It was sponsored by BNP Paribas. France won their tenth title (their first since 2001), with Lucas Pouille defeating Steve Darcis of ...

, making his debut against Uzbek tennis player

Denis Istomin Denis Olegovich Istomin (born 7 September 1986) is an Uzbekistani professional tennis player. He won two singles titles (at the 2015 Aegon Open Nottingham and 2017 Chengdu Open) and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 33 in Au ...

. Kwon represented

at the

2022 Davis Cup Finals Canada won the title, defeating Australia 2–0 in the final. It was Canada's first ever Davis Cup title. The Finals, formerly known as World Group, was the highest level of Davis Cup competition in 2022. It took place from 13 to 18 September ...

and recorded his first victory over a top-20 player by defeating world No. 13,

Félix Auger-Aliassime Felix Auger-Aliassime (; born August 8, 2000) is a Canadian professional tennis player. He has a career-high singles ranking of No. 6, which he achieved on November 7, 2022, making him the second-highest-ranked Canadian man in ATP rankings histor ...

7–6⁽⁵⁾, 6–3 in the group stage tie versus Canada.

Performance timelines

Singles

''Current through the

2024 Davis Cup Italy defeated the Netherlands 2-0 in the final tennis match of the 2024 Davis Cup. It was the 112th edition of the Davis Cup, a tournament between national teams in men's tennis. It was part of the 2024 ATP Tour calendar. Davis Cup Finals Knoc ...

.''

Doubles

''Current through the 2022 Korea Open.''

ATP Tour finals

Singles: 2 (2 titles)

Records

* These records were attained in the

of tennis.

Davis Cup

* indicates the outcome of the Davis Cup match followed by

the score The Score may refer to: Films and television * The Score (1978 film), ''The Score'' (1978 film), a 1978 Swedish film, released in Sweden as ''Lyftet'' * The Score (2001 film), ''The Score'' (2001 film), a 2001 crime drama film starring Robert De Ni ...

, date, place of event, the zonal classification and its phase, and the court surface.

ATP Challenger Tour finals

Singles: 6 (3 titles, 3 runner-ups)

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

ITF Futures finals

Singles: 7 (7 titles)

Doubles: 5 (2 titles, 3 runner-ups)

ITF Junior Circuit

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

Doubles: 6 (3 titles, 3 runners-up)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kwon, Soon-woo 1997 births Living people People from Sangju South Korean male tennis players Tennis players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic tennis players for South Korea Tennis players at the 2018 Asian Games Tennis players at the 2022 Asian Games Asian Games bronze medalists for South Korea Asian Games medalists in tennis Medalists at the 2022 Asian Games 21st-century South Korean sportsmen