Taipei, Nov. 21 (CNA) Taiwanese tennis player Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) has been nominated for the “Comeback Player of the Year” award by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) as part of the WTA’s 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 2023 at the Madrid Open, partnering with Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic to reach the quarterfinals of the women’s doubles event.
She then won the women’s doubles titles at the French Open with Wang Xinyu (王欣瑜) 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 2023 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 will vote for the winners, according to the association.
On her Facebook, 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,” Hsieh said.
