In 1989 Michael Chang was told he couldn't win the French Open, one of tennis' important Grand Slam tournaments along with the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open. The players he faced were all bigger and stronger than the five-feet-eight inches, 135-pound Chang. But showing determination and a refusal to quit, he overcame opponents and his own exhaustion to win what people had said he couldn't win. With that victory, Chang became a champion in the truest sense of the word.During his career he has shown that hard work and determination are just as important as physical ability.

Michael Chang was born February 22, 1972, in Hoboken, New Jersey. Both of his parents, Joe and Betty Chang, were research chemists. His father fled from mainland China to Taiwan after the Communist victory of Mao Zedong in the late 1940s. He came to the United States in 1966 and met...