Li Tu (born 27 May 1996) is an Australian tennis player who mainly competes on the ATP Challenger Tour.
Tu has career-high rankings by the ATP of 178 in singles, reached on 4 November 2024, and 197 in doubles, achieved on 9 January 2023.[1]
Career
2011–2014: Pro debut and retirement
Tu made his ITF Futures debut in February 2011 at the Australia F2. He played four other tournaments, losing in the first round in all of them.
In February 2014, he won his first match on ITF-level. In April 2014, Tu reached the quarterfinal of the Australia F5, his best result this level, but retired in June 2014.[3]
2020–2021: Return, ATP and major debut, four ITF titles
In 2020, Tu was inspired to return to playing tennis and enjoyed success on the Australian UTR Pro Tennis Series.[3]
Tu made his ATP Tour debut at the 2021 Murray River Open from where he received a wildcard into the singles main draw.[4]
Tu also made his Grand Slam debut at the 2021 Australian Open, after receiving a wildcard. He lost in the first round to Feliciano López.[5]
In August 2021, Tu won his first ITF title as an unranked qualifier at a M15 tournament in Tunisia. He was competing in his first international event since June 2014.[3]
In September 2021, Tu won the singles and doubles titles at a tournament in Monastir, Tunisia.[6]
Tu ended the 2021 season with an ATP ranking of No. 521.
In May, he scooped an ITF title in Cairo and finished runner-up at another ITF event at Monastir,[8] winning 11 of his past 12 matches. He raised 55 places to a new career-high of world No. 342 on 9 May 2022.[9]
In October, Tu made his first Challenger semifinal in Seoul, after qualifying by beating Cho Se-hyuk and Mukund Sasikumar. In the main draw, he beat Kaichi Uchida, fellow qualifier Naoki Nakagawa and the fifth seed, compatriot Christopher O'Connell. He defeated the sixth seed, compatriot James Duckworth, in the semifinals to reach his first Challenger final where he defeated Wu Yibing in straight sets.[10] As a result, he moved more than 100 positions up in the rankings, at world No. 190 on 17 October 2022.
2023: First ATP Tour win
In Newport, after qualifying for the main draw, Tu won his first match at ATP Tour level by beating Aleksandar Vukic in straight sets. This was also his first match win against a top 100 player.[11]
He again qualified for the Hall of Fame Open.
He also qualified for the main draw of the US Open making his debut at this major.[12] In the first round, he lost to third-seeded Carlos Alcaraz in four sets.
Performance timelines
Key
W
F
SF
QF
#R
RR
Q#
P#
DNQ
A
Z#
PO
G
S
B
NMS
NTI
P
NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.
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