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At the age of 37, Hsieh Su-wei is one of the oldest competitors on the WTA Tour. In fact, her 22 years of experience means the Taiwanese has been playing for longer than some of her colleagues on the tour have had birthdays.
Hsieh is currently inching towards a comeback after a daunting 18-month layoff, a comeback she kickstarted in doubles at the 2023 Madrid Open. Joining hands with fellow 37-year-old Barbora Strycova, who's in the midst of her final hurrah, Hsieh took down Latisha Chan and Chan Hao-ching in her opener.
Speaking to WTA Insider recently, Hsieh Su-wei said that she was relaxing at home during her time off, cutting flowers and taking care of her plants. Her last match before the break came at the 2021 WTA Finals in doubles, where she and Elise Mertens lost to Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova in the final.
"I was staying home, cutting my flowers, fixing my plants. So it was a very relaxing time at home. I tried to recover from the injury from 2019, because I was waiting for two years and there was no recovery," Hsieh said. "So, after the WTA Finals, I decided to stop. I wanted to rest a little bit because I still wanted to come back to play singles."
Touching on her singles comeback, Hsieh admitted that it would be difficult even under the best of circumstances, as the WTA tour is very competitive at the top level. But with plenty of support from her friends, the former doubles World No. 1 is planning to make a return in singles soon too.
"To play singles, you can't go back and travel by yourself. It's not possible to get back to the high level. Even with a coach, it's hard to get to the high level because it's very competitive, and there are so many new girls. So I talked to some friends, and I said 'OK, if you will travel with me, then I will come back to play.' She said 'Ok!' I was not expecting it like this," Hsieh Su-wei said.
"This is the story of how I came back fast. So I come back for the doubles first, enjoy a little bit, get in the rhythm of the match, and then slowly I will play singles. I will do slowly and enjoy. I will eat all the good food. As I enjoy more, I think I will get a tiny bit better and better," she added.
"We saw everyone very clearly on the TV" - Hsieh Su-wei on keeping in touch with tennis during her break
Hsieh Su-wei, a four-time doubles Grand Slam champion, also said that she kept in touch with tennis during her break. She joked that she bought a big TV to see "the girls" on tour clearly.
"We bought a big TV, so every time we watched on TV, we were next to the players," Hsieh said. "We saw everyone very clearly on the TV. So I don't feel like I'm out. I was beside all these girls all the time."
While her singles comeback is awaited, as she hopes for a wildcard from organizers on the WTA or ITF Tour, Su-wei and Barbora Strycova will take on Miyu Kato and Aldila Sutjiadi in their Madrid Open second-round encounter.
