Michael Chang was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, on 22 February 1972 to parents who had emigrated from Taiwan. The family later moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, and then to California. His father Joe was his first coach, José Higueras coached him in 1989, and his older brother Carl coached him for much of his career.
Chang was small for a professional, and he made up for it with willpower, a strong forehand and a refusal to give away points. In 1989 he became the youngest player ever ranked in the top five, and that spring he produced one of the most famous wins in the sport. At the French Open, seeded 15th, he met world No. 1 Ivan Lendl in the fourth round. Losing two sets to love and then struggling with leg cramps, he stayed in the match with high looping balls, stood close to the service line to return and surprised Lendl with an underarm serve. He won 4–6, 4–6, 6–3, 6–3, 6–3 after 4 hours and 39 minutes. In the final he beat Stefan Edberg 6–1, 3–6, 4–6, 6–4, 6–2 to become, at 17, the youngest man to win a Grand Slam singles title; Wikipedia gives his age as 17 years and 109 or 110 days in different sections.
He played in three more major finals and lost them all: the 1995 French Open to Thomas Muster, and the 1996 Australian Open and US Open to Boris Becker and Pete Sampras. On 9 September 1996 he reached world No. 2. He helped the United States win the 1990 Davis Cup, its first since 1982, and won at least one ATP title for 11 years in a row. In all he won 34 singles titles, seven of them at Masters level.
Chang retired in 2003. In 2008 he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and from 2014 he coached Kei Nishikori. He later started coaching Learner Tien.