Eudice Chong

Inaugurated in 1976 for Division I athletes, followed by Divisions II and III in 1988, Chong is only the third tennis player in history to receive the Honda Athlete of the Year Award accolade among all divisions.

"It is such an amazing honor to be receiving such a prestigious award, and these chances only come once in a lifetime!"

exclaimed Chong.

"Receiving this award means especially more because it shows that I've made an impact in some way or other throughout my collegiate career, and that I finished my four years giving it everything I've got. As an athlete of any sport, it means so much to see your hard work recognized, and in my case, I am lucky enough to be surrounded by people who have helped me get where I am and who continue to provide unwavering support."

The honor was voted on by national balloting among 1,000 NCAA member schools as part of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards program since 1976.

She was named Division III ITA National Senior Player of the Year and finished her career at Wesleyan as the all-time leader in singles wins, in addition to her four first-team All-Americas in both singles and doubles, and three NESCAC Player of the Year honors.

Eudice Chong (born 22 April 1996) is a professional tennis player from Hong Kong.

Chong has thus far captured four singles and 27 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit.

In 2022, she reached career-highs in both singles and doubles when her WTA rankings peaked at No. 213 and No. 134, respectively.

She started competing in Junior Novice competitions in fifth grade in 2006 and won the Comp 3 under-10 and Comp 4 under-12 singles before attending the Talent Group trials that earned her a selection.

She then captured the under-12 girls' singles title at the Hong Kong National Junior Tennis Championships 2008 by beating Caroline Lampl, who went on to win three NCAA championships with Stanford University.

She is currently coached by former Indian Davis Cupper and 2010 Asian Games bronze medallist, Karan Rastogi, while her physical coach is Romain Deffet, former personal trainer to Li Na, Daniela Hantuchova, and Peng Shuai.

In 2010 and 2011, she claimed back-to-back CRC Open 18 & Under School Girls' Open Singles Championship titles.

She was selected to represent Hong Kong in the under-14 WJT events in 2010 and 2011, as well as the under-16 Junior Fed Cup competitions in 2012 and 2013.

At age 16, Chong added the Hong Kong National Junior Tennis Championships 2012 under-18 girls' singles title.

She represented Hong Kong at the Asian Games (2014 and 2018), All China Games (2013, 2017 and 2021), Asian Championships (2013), World University Games (2015, 2017, and 2019), and Fed Cup (2012-2014, 2017-2019, 2022).

With academics being first priority, Chong competed on a limited schedule on the ITF Junior Circuit but nevertheless captured two singles and seven doubles titles and peaked at a career-high No. 200 (6 January 2014) in the world.

When Chong arrived in Connecticut in 2014, Wesleyan had only made it to the NCAA tournament just once in its program's 42-year history.

Moreover, the school had yet to produce an individual national champion.

In her freshman year, Chong defeated Joulia Likhanskaia (Bowdoin College), 6–4, 4–6, 7–5, to win the NCAA Division III women's singles championship.

In 2015, her freshman year, Chong became the first Wesleyan women's tennis player in program history to compete in the individual NCAA Championships.

All four years, she held the year-end Division III No. 1 ranking and was a four-time selection to the ITA Collegiate All-Star Team, which featured the nation's top-ranked men and women from the year-end Oracle/ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings, in addition to winners of the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships and NCAA Division I and III Championships.

In 2016, she beat Juli Raventos (Williams College), 6–2, 7–5, to repeat as champion.

Chong also led her team to three consecutive NCAA tournaments from 2016 to 2018.

In 2017, Chong saw off the challenge of Rebecca Ho (Washington University in St. Louis), 6–4, 2–6, 6–2, to three-peat.

She embarked on a career as a full-time touring professional in June 2018 after she graduated from Division III Wesleyan University in Connecticut where she became the first player in NCAA history to win four consecutive national singles titles at any division of collegiate tennis, man or woman.

Then, in her senior year in 2018, she defeated Victoria Yu (Wesleyan University), 7–6, 6–2, to become the first player in college tennis history to capture four straight singles titles in any division.

Chong then garnered the prestigious Division III Honda Athlete of the Year Award to conclude a stellar college career.

The Honda Award honors the nation's top women in collegiate sports in recognition of their superior athletic skills, leadership, academic excellence, and eagerness to participate in community service.

Chong was presented with this honor at THE Collegiate Women Sports Awards (CWSA) presented by Honda that was telecasted live on the CBS Sports Network on June 25, 2018 from the Founders' Room at the Galen Center on the campus of the University of Southern California in downtown Los Angeles.

At the World University Games in Naples, Italy, in 2019, Chong captured a bronze medal in women's singles and women's doubles.

In the process, she became the first tennis player from Hong Kong to medal in singles and the first to capture two tennis medals at the same Universiade.

An Elite Training Grant (ETG) recipient, her training is primarily based at the Hong Kong Sports Institute (HKSI) in Shatin.

In March 2019, Chong, together with fellow Fed Cup teammate, Cody Wong, were the first players selected to the EFG HKTA Tour Team, a three-year financial commitment by the EFG Young Athletes Foundation (YAF) to support local talent.

With the global pandemic adversely impacting the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, the latter part of 2020 saw Chong make a concerted assault on the local majors in Hong Kong.

She became the first player to equal Paulette Moreno's feat of winning the ladies' singles, ladies' doubles, and mixed doubles titles simultaneously at both the CRC Open and the Hong Kong National Tennis Championships in the same calendar year, a record that had stood untouched for 36 years.

Chong was born in Long Island, New York.

At age 3, she relocated to Hong Kong where her formative years of schooling and development in tennis took shape.

Her earliest experience with the sport came in the form of once-a-week private lessons at a local tennis club, but genuine enthusiasm did not surface until the coach enrolled her for organized tennis with HKTA.

In 2020, Chong was one of two local sportswomen featured in the October issue of Prestige Hong Kong magazine.