Su-Wei Hsieh practiced on Monday for over two hours on a practice court at the Miami Open. It was her off day after before a third round doubles match. After the practice with an older male American hitting partner, she walked back to the locker room by herself. Not a single fan recognized her or approached her despite the Yonex bag on her shoulder and her fit tennis figure, she made the three minute trek without signing one autograph or taking one fan photo.
Last year Hsieh, now 29, was the number one player in the world in doubles, she won Wimbledon and French Open titles with Peng Shuai. She’s also won two WTA singles titles, both in 2012 in Malaysia (vs. Petra Martic) and Guangzhou (in a three set marathon vs. Laura Robson, 6-4 in the third).
Maria Sharapova remembers Hsieh from junior days: “I faced her many times in the juniors. She used to be a nightmare for me because she used to slice and drop shot 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 drop shots and slices and get people kind of crazy.”
I first saw Hsieh play on TV this year in January, in the semifinals of the Australian mixed doubles, partnering with Pablo Cuevas. They were up an early break on Paes/Hingis, on the strength of Hsieh’s shotmaking and outstanding lobbing that befuddled both Paes and Hingis, two of the most experienced and accomplished doubles players on the planet. Tennis Channel commentator Justin Gimelstob was also dazzled by the Hsieh display of subtle court genius.
Eventually though, Cuevas let the team down, with a series of forehand errors. Hsieh told me last week, he was nervous and is typically a clay courter. In other words, he choked.
I decided to watch Hsieh again yesterday, now ranked #5 in the world, she’s playing with Italian Flavia Pennetta, who she once beat in singles. They played on Court 1 against the team of Alexandra Panova and Monica Niculescu and won the first set comfortably 6-3.
Hsieh, who wore all white, with black/blue Yonex shoes and a pink Nike hat, stands just under 5-7 but she is the slightest built professional tennis player I’ve ever seen. Her game is not built on strength or brawn but by touch, feel, intelligence and incredible reflexes.
She can create angles like Marcelo Rios but has a doubles court sense, as good as anyone. Her game is flamboyant in brief flashes, you might not even realize it, given how completely unostentatious her demeanor on court is. Some other Hsieh factoids: She’s made the semis of three of the four majors, earned over $3.7m in prize money. And she’s been coached by the former Aussie great Paul McNamee for four years. China offered her over a million dollars a year to play under the Chinese flag instead of Taipei (she did not accept).
Back to the match. How many times she hit a winner off of an overhead or volley was too many to count. Despite the subtle magic of her tennis, there is very little emotional expression except for a smile at a nice shot or the one time she swung and missed at a high ball that sailed long, after that Hsieh stuck out her tongue and smiled. Another thing I noticed is that her eyes never venture outside of the court, she never looks into the crowd. Even walking back to the changeover, she focuses on her chair or patting hands with her partner. You will not find a more focused player.
But she and Pennetta had a slight lapse in the second set, perhaps they became overconfident of the victory. As we know, things can change quickly in doubles. They both began to make errors off returns and baseline rallies and also a few bad shots that gave the opponents some easy slam balls. Suddenly, the games were slipping away like air from a rip in a tire. Just like that Hsieh and Pennetta were down 0-5. But they decided to not tank the set, they still believed they could win the set and battled back to 3-5 and even had a point for 4-5 which Pennetta missed. On the deciding point, Pennetta missed again with a netted forehand. That error was costly. It lost their momentum.
In the match tiebreak, Pennetta stumbled again. At 9-9 in the match tiebreak, Pennetta again missed two more shots, the last being a forehand return long, and the match was over. Niculescu and Panova two obscure players of little repute, had stolen this one.
Hsieh, hugged her partner, did the perfunctory handshakes, picked up her bag and walked back to the locker room. Again, no fans approached her for photos or autographs. No fan probably realized she was once the number one ranked doubles player in the world.
Su-Wei Hsieh, go watch her if you can. She’s one of those hidden gems of the sport of tennis.
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dan markowitz · April 1, 2015 at 1:57 pm
Nice piece. I’ve seen her play, but can’t remember her style, but after reading your description, I’d give her a shot. Funny, the matches you choose to watch. For example, I would never watch a women’s doubles match that didn’t include the Williams sisters and/or Hingis and I would rarely watch that. But I do remember watching Mixed D when Vince played with Vania King, against Gimel and his partner, it was in the Grandstand, and it was pretty good stuff.
What’s happened to King, and why didn’t Fish and Haas play Miami. I thought they both were going to play.
dan markowitz · April 1, 2015 at 2:02 pm
Scoop, did you watch the Djoko-Dolgo match? Dolgo was dogging him. Djoko had his mouth open gaping for air. I came in with Dolgo up 7-6, 3-0 and I think he had a break point to go up 4-0. Djoko hung tough, but Dolgo had him.
Kind of curious about Thiem-Murray and Stephens-Halep. Who you picking? I’ll take Murray of course, he usually dispatches with these newbies except for the recent Coric defeat and I’ll take Stephens over Halep in an upset. Stephens has been playing really well. Her new/old coach, Nick Saviano, apparently told her to play every point like a champion and she’s been running down balls like a panther. A little embarrassing with Annacone calling her matches because of that infamous on-court coaching session he conducted last year with Sloane where you could see her eyes seething at him while he talked.
Ryan Balon · April 1, 2015 at 2:42 pm
Scoop,
I noticed a picture of you and Harry Cicma posted on Harry’s twitter account today.
How well do you know Harry? How involved is he in the tennis world?
As I’m sure you know he is also from RI. We played against each other in high school and hit together during many summers.
It seems as though he has really established him in the tennis community and wanted your thoughts on what he’s been doing.
Hope you’re enjoying Miami.
Go Thiem
Scoop Malinowski · April 1, 2015 at 9:07 pm
Hi Ryan, he is a good friend. We’ve hit together a lot in the last year and it’s always super competitive and close, I mean every single game so it’s a lot of fun and challenging and makes us both better players. I mean every baseline game is 10-8 or 12-10, back and forth, one wins then the other wins every ball is a battle. It’s unreal. Harry is well known by all the big guns, has good access and does a lot of work for his TV show World Tennis, as well as WTT tennis work and he also did some ESPN for the WTT finals. He does an excellent job. Tonight he was scheduled to do interviews with Djokovic and Kuerten at some Lacoste function in South Beach. Really good guy, well liked and respected. We’re hitting tomorrow at around noon so wish me luck, it’s always a war with Harry )
Scoop Malinowski · April 1, 2015 at 9:13 pm
Thanks Dan. Front row seats to a womens doubles match with Hingis, Mirza or Hsieh is worth the price of admission right there. At the US Open I will take you to one and we will dissect it. Hsieh is one of my new favorites. HingZa have been amazing, they are undefeated together. They will win this tourney. Yes I did see some of Djok-Dolgo. Dog can hurt Djok, we saw it on Armstrong, but Djok raised his A plus game and got it done. Djok’s A plus game is unbeatable except for on Chatrier but I think it will be undefeated at Chatrier this spring.
Ryan Balon · April 2, 2015 at 8:07 am
Scoop,
Great to see you know Harry so well.
Yes he is a grinder on the court and we had many battles but i would have to say he got the best of me most times.
Tell him hello for me and continued success to you both.
Look forward to seeing you in Newport.
-Ryan
Scoop Malinowski · April 2, 2015 at 9:02 am
Will do Ryan. Looking forward to Newport, but I hear there are major major changes to the whole place, everything is being refurbished. This scares me because it was perfect the way it was. Have you seen or heard anything about the changes at the Hall of Fame?
Ryan Balon · April 2, 2015 at 9:10 am
Scoop,
I have heard of the changes but don’t venture down to Newport until the spring.
I will be sure to update you over the course of the next few months.
I agree that the Hall should stay the way it is so we’ll see.
Scoop Malinowski · April 2, 2015 at 9:49 am
You never know, Ryan, maybe just maybe it could be a wonderful improvement. But we’re traditionalists, we love the original. I miss places like Boston Garden, Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium, Montreal Forum, Chicago Stadium. They better not touch Fenway :0
Dan markowitz · April 2, 2015 at 12:19 pm
No, I think some improvements at the Hall will be good. They’re building a new indoor facility and they’re updating the Hall itself because the exhibits need to be more interactive and kid friendly.
Scoop Malinowski · April 3, 2015 at 12:32 am
For sure Dan. But to rip down the old structure and replace it, as I’ve heard, is a frightening idea. Don’t you just love the old cedar architecture? Such character and history.
Ashoke Ganguli · April 3, 2015 at 8:30 am
Hi Scoop,
Hope you won your tennis with Harry.Watching some great tennis at the Oaks $50,000 USTA event.Rus is struggling on the tour.One time she was a top 50 player.Your coverage is always stellar.
Scoop Malinowski · April 3, 2015 at 9:55 am
Thanks Ashoke, I hear that’s a very nice event. When is the final? Arantxa Rus showed big potential a couple of years ago but has floated off the radar.