Taiwanese tennis player Hsieh Su-wei has been nominated for the Comeback Player of the Year award by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) as part of its annual player awards.
Hsieh was sidelined for about 18 months following an injury sustained during a tournament in Italy in October 2021.
She returned to competitive tennis in April at the Madrid Open, partnering with Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic to reach the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles.
Photo: EPA-EFE
She won the women’s doubles titles at the French Open with Wang Xinyu of China and at Wimbledon with Strycova, where they beat third seeds Storm Hunter of Australia and Elise Mertens of Belgium.
“Hsieh wasted little time in re-establishing herself as one of the most pre-eminent doubles players of this generation,” the WTA said in a statement.
“The 37-year-old captured two Grand Slam titles to take her tally to six, teaming up with Wang Xinyu to win Roland Garros for the second time before reclaiming the Wimbledon crown for a fourth time with Strycova.”
“It was the first time in Hsieh’s career that she had won multiple major titles in a single season and she ended 2023 as the doubles No. 6,” the WTA said.
Others nominated for the other were Marketa Vondrousova and Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic, Elina Svitolina of Ukraine and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia.
The WTA Player Awards are broken down into five categories: Player of the Year, Doubles Team of the Year, Most Improved Player of the Year, Newcomer of the Year and Comeback Player of the Year.
Members of the international tennis media are to vote for the winners, the association said.
Hsieh described the nomination by the WTA as a “surprise” and an “honor.”
“It’s such a surprise and an honor to be on the list with such wonderful and hard-working girls,” she wrote on Facebook.
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