Li Tu

Li Tu

Tu at the 2023 French Open
Country (sports)	Australia
Residence	Adelaide, Australia
Born	(1996-05-27) 27 May 1996 Adelaide, Australia
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro	2014
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Coach	Ben Milner
Prize money	$527,010
Singles
Career record	1–9 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 186 (18 March 2024)
Current ranking	No. 193 (23 September 2024)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	1R (2021)
French Open	Q2 (2024)
Wimbledon	Q2 (2024)
US Open	1R (2024)
Doubles
Career record	2–2
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 197 (9 January 2023)
Current ranking	No. 271 (23 September 2024)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	3R (2022)
Last updated on: 23 September 2024.

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 186 in singles, reached on 18 March 2024, and 197 in doubles, achieved on 9 January 2023.

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.

Tu competed in the 2012 Junior Davis Cup alongside Thanasi Kokkinakis, later working as a tennis coach prior to his debut on the senior tour.

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.

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.

Tu made his ATP Tour debut at the 2021 Murray River Open from where he received a wildcard into the singles main draw. 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.

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. In September 2021, Tu won the singles and doubles titles at a tournament in Monastir, Tunisia.

Tu ended the 2021 season with an ATP ranking of No. 521.

2022: Maiden Challenger title, top 200 debut

Tu lost in the first round of the 2022 Australian Open – Men's singles qualifying. He made his Grand Slam debut in doubles and reached the third round, after receiving a wildcard with Dane Sweeny.

In May, he scooped an ITF title in Cairo and finished runner-up at another ITF event at Monastir, winning 11 of his past 12 matches. He raised 55 places to a new career-high of world No. 342 on 9 May 2022.

In July, Tu made his debut on the ATP Challenger Tour in Rome, Georgia, where he lost to Yasutaka Uchiyama. The following week in Indianapolis, as an alternate, he won his first Challenger match against Michail Pervolarakis, but lost to Dominik Koepfer in the second round. He then made his first Challenger quarterfinal in Winnipeg, defeating seventh seed Gijs Brouwer in the second round, before losing to Enzo Couacaud. As a result he reached world No. 252 on 1 August 2022.

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. 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.

He entered the Mallorca Championships, also as qualifier, but lost his first-round match against lucky loser Pavel Kotov.

He also entered the main draw at the Chengdu Open as a lucky loser and lost in the first round.

2024: US Open debut

He qualified for his home tournament, the Brisbane International.

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. 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.

Tournament	2021	2022	2023	2024	SR	W–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	1R	Q1	Q2	Q1	0 / 1	0–1
French Open	A	A	Q1	Q2	0 / 0	0–0
Wimbledon	A	A	A	Q2	0 / 0	0–0
US Open	A	A	A	1R	0 / 1	0–1
Win–loss	0–1	0–0	0-0	0-1	0 / 2	0–2

Personal life

Tu was born in Adelaide to Chinese immigrant parents. His mother, Yu Ping Zheng, died in 2022.

ATP Challenger Tour finals

Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Legend ATP Challenger Tour (1–1)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Oct 2022	Seoul, South Korea	Challenger	Hard	Wu Yibing	7–6(7–5), 6–4
Loss	1–1	Jul 2024	Lexington, USA	Challenger	Hard	João Fonseca	1–6, 4–6

Doubles: 1 (title)

Legend ATP Challenger Tour (1–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Jul 2024	Chicago, USA	Challenger	Hard	Luke Saville	Mac Kiger Benjamin Sigouin	6–4, 3–6, [10–3]

ITF World Tennis Tour finals

Singles: 13 (9 titles, 4 runner-ups)

Legend ITF WTT (9–4)

Finals by surface Hard (8–4) Clay (1–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Aug 2021	M15 Monastir, Tunisia	WTT	Hard	Mateo Nicolás Martínez	6–1, 6–1
Win	2–0	Sep 2021	M15 Monastir, Tunisia	WTT	Hard	Gabriel Décamps	6–2, 6–1
Win	3–0	Sep 2021	M15 Monastir, Tunisia	WTT	Hard	Ryota Tanuma	3–6, 6–1, 6–2
Win	4–0	Nov 2021	M25 Saint-Dizier, France	WTT	Hard (i)	Dane Sweeny	1–6, 6–1, 6–4
Win	5–0	Feb 2022	M25 Bendigo, Australia	WTT	Hard	Andrew Harris	6–3, 6–1
Win	6–0	May 2022	M25 Cairo, Egypt	WTT	Clay	Colin Sinclair	6–4, 3–6, 6–4
Loss	6–1	May 2022	M15 Monastir, Tunisia	WTT	Hard	Skander Mansouri	4–6, 2–6
Win	7–1	May 2022	M25 Monastir, Tunisia	WTT	Hard	Skander Mansouri	6–7(3–7), 6–4, 7–6(7–4)
Loss	7–2	Jul 2022	M15 Waco, Texas, USA	WTT	Hard	Adam Walton	5–7, 6–0, 1–6
Win	8–2	Apr 2023	M15 Monastir, Tunisia	WTT	Hard	Daniel Rodrigues	3–6, 6–4, 6–4
Loss	8–3	Apr 2023	M15 Monastir, Tunisia	WTT	Hard	Duarte Vale	3–6, 0–3, ret.
Loss	8–4	Feb 2024	M25 Traralgon, Australia	WTT	Hard	Omar Jasika	6–7(1–7), 2–6
Win	9–4	Mar 2024	M25 Traralgon, Australia	WTT	Hard	Alex Bolt	6–4, 6–2

Doubles: 5 (4 titles, 1 runner-up)

Legend ITF WTT (4–1)

Finals by surface Hard (3–1) Clay (1–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Aug 2021	M15 Monastir, Tunisia	WTT	Hard	Jeremy Beale	August Holmgren Johannes Ingildsen	6–4, 6–2
Win	2–0	Sep 2021	M15 Monastir, Tunisia	WTT	Hard	Ajeet Rai	Martin Breysach Lilian Marmousez	6–0, 6–4
Win	3–0	Feb 2022	M25 Canberra, Australia	WTT	Hard	Dane Sweeny	Jayden Court David Hough	6–3, 7–5
Loss	3–1	Mar 2022	M25 Bendigo, Australia	WTT	Hard	Dane Sweeny	Akira Santillan Philip Sekulic	5–7, 7–6, [7–10]
Win	4–1	Mar 2022	M25 Canberra, Australia	WTT	Clay	Dane Sweeny	Matthew Romios Eric Vanshelboim	7–6, 3–6, [10–7]

External links

• Li Tu at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Li Tu at the International Tennis Federation
• Li Tu at Tennis Australia
• Li Tu at Universal Tennis