Wong waiting on Rafa after winning Asian Games tennis gold

NAGOYA: Coleman Wong will be eagerly checking his phone for a message from Rafael Nadal after the Hong Kong player won tennis gold at the Asian Games on Saturday, and with it a place at the Olympics.

Wong beat Wu Yibing 6-2, 6-4 and joins Wu's fellow Chinese Wang Xiyu, who won the women's final, as singles champions in Nagoya.

The 22-year-old Wong is the first man from Hong Kong to win tennis gold.

Wong is ranked 100 in the world and at the 2025 US Open was the first Hong Kong male to reach the third round of a Grand Slam.

At 17, he decided to move to Spain to train at the Rafa Nadal Academy, and the Spanish great keeps abreast of how Wong is progressing.

Asked whether he had heard from Nadal following his golden triumph, Wong said: "I haven't checked my messages. I don't know. Let's see.

"He always talks to my coaches to see how I'm doing, how the team atmosphere is like," he added.

"Sometimes we have a meeting with him and uncle Toni (Nadal's uncle) to see what's going on, the situation.

"He knows what's going on, the planning and everything. We always ask him what do we do at this moment, should we go here or what's the plan."

Wong can now start planning for Los Angeles 2028, which will be his first Olympics.

"It's going to be amazing, I'm going to be so excited," he said.

"There's still quite a long time to go, just trying to keep improving myself, see how far I can go." --AFP