By Scoop Malinowski
After her dazzling three-set, fourth-round knockout of Caroline Wozniacki yesterday at Miami Open, Su-Wei Hsieh told the story at her press conference about her unique Yonex tennis racquet and how she began to use it. She spoke in Chinese but the reporter Bowen was kind enough to share the story to me in English.
“This is how Su-Wei started to play with her longbody Yonex racquet. People say this racquet is different, it’s extra long, extra heavy. But Su-Wei says it’s just off the market. It’s a racquet regular people use. The racquet came from her brother. Her brother bought this racquet (a stock Yonex Duel G 97 330 grams, lengthened to e29 inches). His hands hurt from using it. He could not use the racquet. Su-Wei said, Give to me, let me try. And she tried it and said, This racquet is quite comfortable for me. It didn’t hurt my hands. I use this racquet since beginning of 2017.”
Hsieh decided to change racquets because the previous Yonex she used – stock Yonex RDS002 Tour, also lengthened to 29 inches – was discontinued in 2009. And her supply of those old Yonex racquets were well battered and broken up after years of use in singles, doubles and practice.
It’s considered rare that a two-handed player like Hsieh uses a racquet frame under 100 inches (Hsieh uses a 97 inch frame) but just about everything is rare and special about this unique player who was nicknamed “The Wizard” by Virginia Wade during her Wimbledon broadcasting telecasts.
Bowen also added that Hsieh revealed that she bought her current clothes in Dubai, she had no attire or shoe endorsements. She is wearing Nike tops, adidas skirt, basketball socks and purple Nike Cage shoes.
Can you believe “The Wizard” does not even have a single racquet or clothing sponsor?
catherine · March 26, 2019 at 2:13 pm
Yes, I can believe it. Probably a political reason but we won’t go there. Thankfully lacking sponsors doesn’t adversely affect S-W’s play.
Scoop Malinowski · March 26, 2019 at 3:45 pm
There are many players ranked well outside 100 who still have their contracts and they are achieving far far less than Hsieh. Won’t name any names.
catherine · March 26, 2019 at 4:19 pm
Unfortunately Hsieh’s run just came to an end after a 2hr closely fought match vs Anett Kontaveit. Anett is a promising player I think – 23 and ranked 19.
catherine · March 26, 2019 at 4:54 pm
Scoop – it’s possible some major companies do not want to be seen sponsoring Hsieh because of the difficult situation with mainland China. That’s what I meant by political. Of course no one can stop her wearing the gear if she buys it herself.
Noted the warm embrace at the net at the end of this match – diktat come down from the WTA no doubt 🙂
Kontaveit’s coach is Andy Murray’s father-in-law ?
Scoop Malinowski · March 26, 2019 at 4:58 pm
Hsieh was up 4-0 in the third and 4-1 in the third and served for it at 5-4 15-all but Kontaveit beat up her serve and overpowered her.
Hartt · March 26, 2019 at 5:32 pm
A different topic, but this is the most recent thread. Felix Auger-Aliassime beat Basilashvili today in SS to make the QFs. It is very unusual for a qualifier to manage this. FAA is now No. 41 in the live rankings.
Scoop Malinowski · March 26, 2019 at 7:55 pm
Boy Felix looks incredible, saw the end of it. Just a monster right now. Djokovic even said today Felix as the first name he mentioned about who will be the next main man in the ATP after himself, after he took tennis to a new higher level above Rafa and Fed, he said Felix, Shap, Tsitsi, Zverev and even mentioned the Polish guy.
Hartt · March 26, 2019 at 9:12 pm
I am excited to see my longtime faith in Felix is being rewarded. And Scoop, you saw his potential before a lot of tennis journalists did.
I saw the end of the first set and then the second set, but I have the first set recorded, so will watch it now, while I wait for the rain to end and for Shapo’s match to begin.
Both Felix and Denis are such terrific athletes, with so much talent. They are exciting to watch. And both are so young, and are hard workers, so they will continue to improve. And it is great that they are such good friends, like brothers Denis said, so they can be supportive while being very competitive with each other.
Scoop Malinowski · March 26, 2019 at 9:49 pm
Hartt, It could be that the success of Felix and Andreescu is sparking Shap to keep up. Extra motivation and inspiration. And Shap is responding. Has his hands full with Tsitsipas though. Shap has looked really really good this week. Tsitsipas vs Coric next, very interesting match. Big challenge for Felix. I think he’s ready to do it.