Lee Duck-hee


Lee Duck-hee is a South Korean professional tennis player. He has won 10 titles on the ITF Junior Circuit as a teenager, including Grade 2 tournaments in Nanjing and Sarawak.

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 story was included during a campaign for the ANZ Bank, which was a sponsor for the Australian Open that year.

Professional career

He turned pro in 2013. He played his first Challenger match at age 14. In August 2019 he became the first deaf player to compete in and win a match in the main draw of an ATP tournament with a win over Henri Laaksonen at the Winston-Salem Open.

Challenger and Futures finals

Singles: 16 (11–5)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScore
Loss0–1India F11, RaipurFuturesHard Ramkumar Ramanathan6–3, 6–7, 4–6
Win1–1Hong Kong F1, Hong KongFuturesHard Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul6–1, 6–4
Loss1–2Hong Kong F2, Hong KongFuturesHard Ruan Roelofse4–6, 6–3, 0–2 ret.
Win2–2Cambodia F2, Phnom PenhFuturesHard Dekel Bar7–6, 6–4
Win3–2Indonesia F2, TegalFuturesHard Shuichi Sekiguchi6–1, 3–0 ret.
Win4–2Indonesia F3, JakartaFuturesHard Christopher Rungkat6–4, 6–3
Win5–2Japan F6, KashiwaFuturesHard Toshihide Matsui6–4, 6–2
Win6–2China F6, PutianFuturesHard Wu Di6–2, 6–3
Win7–2Thailand F8, BangkokFuturesHard Miķelis Lībietis6–1, 6–4
Win8–2Japan F3, KōfuFuturesHard Yuya Kibi6–2, 6–3
Loss8–3China F4, ZhangjiagangFuturesHard Jimmy Wang5–7, 3–6
Win9–3Japan F6, KaruizawaFuturesClay Yasutaka Uchiyama7–6, 6–3
Win10–3China F10, LongyanFuturesHard Li Zhe6–4, 6–4
Loss10–42016 OEC Kaohsiung – Singles|Kaohsiung, Chinese TaipeiChallengerHard Chung Hyeon4–6, 2–6
Win11–4Indonesia F8, JakartaFuturesHard Prajnesh Gunneswaran6–3, 4–6, 7–6
Loss11–52019 Little Rock Challenger – Singles|Little Rock, USAChallengerHard Dudi Sela1–6, 3–4 ret.

Doubles: 3 (0–3)

ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Loss0–1Korea F6, GimcheonFuturesHard Chung Hyeon Chung Hong
Noh Sang-woo
1–6, 5–7
Loss0–2Japan F4, TsukubaFuturesHard Finn Tearney Sho Katayama
Bumpei Sato
4–6, 4–6
Loss0–3Japan F6, KashiwaFuturesHard Woo Chung-hyo Yuya Kibi
Takuto Niki
0–6, 3–6