Hsieh Su-wei

She has trained at a Taipei tennis school run by Hu Na, a former mainland Chinese player who defected to the US in 1982.

Hsieh Su-wei (born 4 January 1986) is a Taiwanese professional tennis player.

During the 2001 Australian Open Junior Grand Slam event, Hsieh reached the girls' singles quarterfinals and the round of 16 in the girls doubles event with partner Natalie Ko, losing in two sets to eventual champions Petra Cetkovská and Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová.

Hsieh displayed stunning results in the 2001 season as a 15-year-old.

Playing on the ITF Women's Circuit, she won all of the five events she entered at Wellington, Kaohsiung, Bangkok (twice), and Peachtree City from January until November.

Hsieh also competed on her first two WTA Tour events, reaching the semifinals in Bali and the quarterfinals in Pattaya.

Although she only played seven tournaments in 2001, she had an impressive 41–2 record, in addition to starting her career with 37 wins in a row.

She had success on the doubles circuit as well, reaching two finals and winning one of them.

She played in the qualifying rounds of all four Grand Slam tournaments in 2002, but was unable to advance to the main draw in any of them.

After a quiet 2003, Hsieh experienced an upswing in her doubles in 2004, reaching five finals on the ITF Circuit and winning a pair of titles in Incheon and New Delhi.

In October 2004, she reached her first WTA doubles final at the Korea Open at the age of 18, where she and compatriot Chuang Chia-jung were beaten by hometown players Cho Yoon-jeong and Jeon Mi-ra.

Hsieh has won 3 singles and 33 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, one WTA 125 doubles title, 27 singles and 23 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit, seven medals at the Asian Games (2 gold, 3 silver, and 2 bronze), one gold and one bronze medal at the 2005 Summer Universiade, and has amassed over $10 million in prize money.

She has spent a total of 47 weeks with the top doubles ranking, the longest tenure by a tennis player from East Asia.

Hsieh is the highest-ranked Taiwanese player in history, in both singles and doubles.

Known for playing with two hands on both sides, flat and quick groundstrokes, crafty gameplay, aggressive volleys, and unorthodox variety of shots, Hsieh is regarded as one of the more successful and versatile doubles players in history.

She also reached the quarterfinals in doubles at the 2012 London Olympics with compatriot Chuang Chia-jung.

While primarily known for her doubles prowess, Hsieh also found success on the singles tour.

Most of her singles success came on hardcourts, where she won all three of her WTA Tour titles, as well as reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open in 2021, a Premier 5 semifinal at Dubai in 2019, and a Premier Mandatory quarterfinal at the Miami Open in 2019 (defeating world No. 1 Naomi Osaka in the third round).

Maria Sharapova, after her third-round win over Hsieh at Wimbledon 2012, said, "I faced her many times in the juniors. She used to be a nightmare for me because she used to slice and dropshot on clay. I was like, 'Where did they learn how to play tennis like that?' She uses both hands, switches racquets. That's her game: it's to hit a lot of dropshots and slices and get people kind of crazy. We used to have real battles in the juniors. I knew her game really well and I don't think she had time to do all of that today on grass. If I'm hitting a hard‑paced shot, I don't think she really has time to create, which is something that she really likes to do."

On 25 February 2013, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 23, and on 12 May 2014, she reached world No. 1 in the doubles rankings.

She has won eight Grand Slam titles in doubles, claiming the 2013 Wimbledon Championships and the 2014 French Open with Peng Shuai (with whom she also won the 2013 WTA Championships), the 2019 and 2023 Wimbledon Championships with Barbora Strýcová, the 2021 Wimbledon Championships and the 2024 Australian Open with Elise Mertens, and the 2023 French Open with Wang Xinyu.

After Hsieh won the 2013 Wimbledon ladies' doubles title, her father said that a Chinese company had offered her a sponsorship deal worth 10 million yuan ($1.63 million) per year, on the condition that she switch her citizenship to the People's Republic of China.

His remarks caused controversy in Taiwan as Hsieh stated that she would consider taking the offer.

In response, the government of Taiwan mobilized domestic companies to offer her competing deals.

Hsieh has an unorthodox style of play compared to other players.

She has also been successful on other surfaces, including reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2018 (defeating world No. 1 Simona Halep in the third round) and the third round of the French Open in 2017.

Hsieh has recorded singles victories over several top 15, top 10 and top 5 players.

Hsieh is the first Taiwanese woman to reach a major singles quarterfinal, which she achieved at the 2021 Australian Open.

At 35, she became the oldest debutant major quarterfinalist.

Upon her retirement from singles in 2024, commentators reflected on Hsieh's time in the sport as "a killer on the court [who] can produce shots that defy geometry and the laws of physics" while also being deeply respected by her colleagues and a charming presence on the tour.

Hsieh was born to parents Hsieh Tze-lung and Ho Fom-ju in Hsinchu and raised in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

She was introduced to tennis by her father at five years of age.

Her younger sister Hsieh Shu-ying and brother Hsieh Cheng-peng are also professional tennis players.

Hsieh named her tennis idols as Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi.

She made a quip at the 2018 Australian Open saying, "Actually, my boyfriend was looking at her [Kerber] game earlier this morning. I forgot to ask him what she play, so, I actually have no plan to go on the court. So I was trying to go my Su-wei style, you know."

Despite her slight build and comparatively short stature, her two-handed groundstrokes are flat, powerful, and are hit with depth.

She incorporates sliced backhands and forehands, drop shots, lobs, volleys, and sharply angled groundstrokes into points, and has been noted for her technical mastery, intelligent style of play, and impressive point construction.

For these reasons, and due to the overall completeness of her game, she has been nicknamed by commentators "The Wizard".

Many top players have praised her unusual playing style.

Hsieh and Strýcová also were the runners-up at both the 2019 WTA Finals and the 2020 Australian Open.