37-year-old Hsieh Su-Wei makes return to the tour after 18-month break: "I was staying home, cutting my flowers, fixing my plants"

Fan favourite Su-Wei Hsieh is back on the tennis court after missing 18 months with injuries and she's glad to be back on the courts to do what she loves the most.

She's a very long-tenured tennis player with 22 years of experience which means she's been an active player more than some of her colleagues have been alive. The injury was not something she enjoyed but it gave her time to do some other things. Asked what she was doing during that time, she said:

"I was staying home, cutting my flowers, fixing my plants. So it was a very relaxing time at home. I tried to recover from the injury from 2019, because I was waiting for two years and there was no recovery. So, after the WTA Finals, I decided to stop. I wanted to rest a little bit because I still wanted to come back to play singles."

Playing in singles is something that doesn't come easy to her anymore but she's planning to give it a try now that she's finally healthy and back on the courts:

"To play singles, you can't go back and travel by yourself. It's not possible to get back to the high level. Even with a coach, it's hard to get to the high level because it's very competitive, and there are so many new girls. So I talked to some friends, and I said 'OK, if you will travel with me, then I will come back to play.' She said 'Ok!' I was not expecting it like this."

Hsieh added:

"This is the story of how I came back fast. So I come back for the doubles first, enjoy a little bit, get in the rhythm of the match, and then slowly I will play singles. I will do slowly and enjoy. I will eat all the good food. As I enjoy more, I think I will get a tiny bit better and better."