Rising star Michael Zheng may be forced to return Australian Open prize money

American rising star Michael Zheng faces the prospect of giving back his Australian Open prize money as a college student, but is hoping a concession can be made.

The 21-year-old, who is yet to turn professional, came through qualifying at Melbourne Park before stunning former quarterfinalist Sebastian Korda in a first-round, five-set thriller.

His exploits so far have earned him at least 225,000 Australian dollars ($150,000), a total that which will soar even higher should he beat 32nd seed Corentin Moutet in the second round.

But U.S. college tennis rules state that he can only earn a maximum of $10,000 in prize money from tournaments per year.

"I still have one more semester at Columbia (University), which I do intend to finish," said Zheng, a senior psychology major. "So whenever my run here is done, I'm going back to school.

"But, yeah, I'll talk to our head coach and try to figure out what's the deal with the prize money, if I'm allowed to take it or not.

"I'll try to figure that out after the tournament is over, I think.

"I've heard rumors I'm allowed to take it, because it's my senior spring," he added.

"But I want to double-check ... I don't want to get in trouble or anything."

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