Michael Chang is the child of Taiwanese immigrants. At age 12, he won his first tournament, the USTA Junior Hard Court singles . In 1988 he dropped out of high school and turned pro. The following year, at the age of 17, he became the youngest ever winner of a Grand Slam tournament at the French Open . In the final he defeated the Swede Stefan Edberg 6: 1, 3: 6, 4: 6, 6: 4, 6: 2. In the last sixteen he had previously, plagued by cramps and on the verge of a task, in a legendary match in 4:43 hours defeated Ivan Lendl 4: 6, 4: 6, 6: 3, 6: 3, 6: 3. Among other things, the Czech despaired of Chang's sometimes unorthodox style of play, for example the American's serve as a simple forehand surprised him.
In 1995 Chang reached the final of the French Open for the second time , but he had no chance against Thomas Muster . In the same year he was defeated by Boris Becker in the final of the ATP World Championship in Frankfurt in three sets. In 1996 he was in the final of two Grand Slam tournaments, at the Australian Open he lost again to Becker and at the US Open he was defeated by Pete Sampras . Chang stayed in the top 10 of the world rankings for several years and celebrated a total of 34 tournament victories. With over $ 19 million in prize money, he was one of the most successful tennis players of his time. He reached his highest ranking position in 1996 with second place. On August 26, 2003, he played his last professional match when he was eliminated from Fernando González in the first round of the US Open .
Between 1989 and 1997, Chang played a total of six games for the US Davis Cup team . He was only used in singles, he was able to win eight of twelve games. In 1990 he won the Davis Cup with his teammates , they defeated Australia 3-2 in the final .
Since the beginning of 2014 he has been looking after the Japanese professional tennis player Kei Nishikori . He reached the final of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time at the US Open in 2014 .
On October 18, 2008, Michael Chang married former tennis player Amber Liu. The couple has two daughters (* 2011, * 2013).