Yunchaokete Bu About

Chosen at five, pro at 20: the long way around for Bu

Yunchaokete Bu came to tennis by selection, not inheritance. Born in the Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang and raised by his grandparents after his father died, he was moved to Urumqi as a boy and, per the South China Morning Post, picked out by a local coach at five for a sports school in Huzhou. A former junior No. 5 who was training in Spain by 16, he only turned professional in January 2022, at 20.

A 1.85m right-hander with a two-handed backhand, he lists the forehand as his favourite shot and grass, oddly for a Chinese hard-court product, as his favourite surface; both of his 2026 Challenger titles came on the lawns, at Birmingham and Ilkley in June. Five Challenger trophies, and still no tour-level title.

The tour arc is short and steep. He debuted as a wild card at Shanghai in 2023 and beat the 45th-ranked Miomir Kecmanovic in his first match, cracked the top 100 in September 2024, then made back-to-back home semifinals that autumn: Zhang beat him in the first all-Chinese semifinal on tour at Hangzhou, and in Beijing he handled then-No. 6 Rublev before Sinner ended it. Career-high ATP No. 64 arrived in April 2025, though the season around it read 6-19, five of the six wins coming against opponents outside the top 64 and a straight-sets win over David Goffin in Washington the exception.

As of September 2026 he sits at ATP No. 124 on 496 points, 50 places below a year earlier and 60 off that high. His season cuts both ways: three tour-level matches, one of them a four-games-dropped rout of 13th-ranked Rafael Jodar at the US Open, the next a four-set exit to Michael Zheng two days on. At 24, the Jodar afternoon is either floor or outlier.

Yunchaokete Bu at a glance

Yunchaokete Bu is 24 years old; was born in Xinjiang, China; stands 1.85 m; plays right-handed; and is ranked No. 93 in the ATP rankings.