Happy birthday, Hsieh Su-wei! 40 stats for the Taiwanese trailblazer's 40th birthday

One of the most beloved players on the tour—Hsieh Su-wei—turns 40 years young today, and she's still going strong. And to celebrate that here’s a stat for each of her 40 birthdays so far:

1 is for No. 1, which Hsieh reached in doubles on May 12th, 2014, becoming the first Taiwanese player to reach the top spot in tennis—in either women’s or men’s, singles or doubles.

2 is for her two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles, at the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2024 alongside Poland’s Jan Zielinski. Those were their first and third tournaments together.

3 is for her three WTA singles titles, the first two coming in 2012 (in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Guangzhou, China) and the third one coming six years later in 2018 (in Hiroshima, Japan).

4 is for the number of different partners she’s won Grand Slam women’s doubles titles with. She's won two with Peng Shuai, Barbora Strycova and Elise Mertens, and one with Wang Xinyu.

5 is for her five Wimbledon titles. She’s lifted the trophy at the legendary All England Club four times in women’s doubles in 2013 (with Peng), 2019 (with Strycova), 2021 (with Mertens) and 2023 (with Strycova), and once in mixed in 2024 (with Zielinski).

6 is for how many times she’s qualified for the WTA Finals in doubles, winning the title once with Peng in 2013. She’s fresh off a semifinal run at the event in 2025 with Jelena Ostapenko.

7 is for her seven Grand Slam women’s doubles titles, which includes the aforementioned four at Wimbledon, as well as two at Roland Garros (in 2014 with Peng and in 2023 with Wang) and one at the Australian Open (in 2024 with Mertens).

8 is for her eight career wins over Top 10 players in singles, all of which the Taiwanese trailblazer achieved in her 30s.

9 is for her current doubles ranking of No. 9. She’s one of nine 40-somethings who currently have a WTA ranking in either singles or doubles, but she’s the only one with a Top 100 ranking.

10 is for her 10 career doubles titles with Strycova, which includes two majors and five WTA 1000s. It’s her second-most successful doubles partnership in terms of titles won.

11 is for her 11 career wins over Top 15 players in singles, all of which—like her Top 10 wins—she achieved in her 30s, too.

12 is for her 12 career doubles titles with Peng, which includes two majors, one WTA Finals title and six WTA 1000s. It's her most successful doubles partnership in terms of titles won.

13 is for her 13 career WTA 1000 doubles titles. Indian Wells has been her best WTA 1000, winning it four times in 2014 (with Peng), 2018 (with Strycova), 2021 and 2014 (with Mertens).

14 is for her 14 career WTA 250 and WTA 500 doubles titles.

15 is for her age when she played—and won—her first professional tournament in 2001, at a $10,000 ITF Circuit event in Wellington, New Zealand. And that was just the start.

16 is for the 16-match winning streak she went on in her first three Grand Slams back after taking a year and a half off from the tour, between 2021 and 2023—she won 2023 Roland Garros (with Wang) and 2024 Wimbledon (with Strycova) and kept it going until the semifinals of the 2024 US Open (with Wang).

17 is for her 17 career wins over Top 20 players in singles, only one of which came early in her career, as a 22-year-old against a No. 20-ranked Sybille Bammer at the 2008 Australian Open, and the other 16 of which she achieved in her 30s.

18 is for being one of only 18 women to spend 50 or more weeks at No. 1 in WTA doubles rankings history, which dates back to 1984. She’s spent a total of 59 weeks at the top spot.

19 is for her 19 career appearances at the Australian Open. She played 17 straight from 2005 to 2021 and, after her missing 2022 and 2023 during her break, two more in 2024 and 2025.

20 is for her 20th career appearance at the Australian Open, which she’s scheduled to make in just a few weeks.

21 is for her age when she won her first WTA title, in doubles, in Beijing in 2007 (alongside countrywoman Chuang Chia-jung).

22 is for her age when she made her breakthrough run to the fourth round of a major for the first time at the 2008 Australian Open, as a No. 158-ranked qualifier no less, falling to then-No. 1 Justine Henin. She made her Top 100 debut afterwards at No. 95.

23 is for her career-high singles ranking of No. 23, which she reached on February 25th, 2013. She’s still the highest-ranked Taiwanese player in WTA singles rankings history.

24 is for getting back up to No. 24, one spot off her career-high singles ranking, six years later at age 33 in 2019.

25 is for her best year-end singles ranking of No. 25 in 2012.

26 is for her 26 career singles titles on the ITF Circuit, to go along with 23 more doubles titles at that level.

27 is for her age when she won her first Grand Slam title, in women’s doubles, at Wimbledon in 2013 (with Peng).

28 is for her age when she first rose to No. 1 in doubles in 2014.

29 is for her 29 career mixed doubles appearances at Grand Slams, not only winning two titles but reaching the quarterfinals or better 12 times, and reaching the semifinals at each of the four Grand Slams at least once each in her career.

30 is for 30-0, which was her record in her first 30 career matches below tour-level as a 15-year-old in 2001. She then made her WTA main draw debut at Bali that year, reaching the semifinals—and it took Indonesia's Angelique Widjaja a third-set tie-break to finally hand Hsieh her first career loss.

31 is for her age when she got her first Top 10 win in singles, against a No. 7-ranked Johanna Konta at Roland Garros in 2017. She had been 0-13 against the elite going into that match.

32 is for her age when she got her first win over a reigning No. 1 in singles, against Simona Halep at Wimbledon in 2018. Halep had just won her first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros.

33 is for her age when she got her second win over a reigning No. 1 in singles, against Naomi Osaka at Miami in 2019. Osaka had won the last two majors, the US Open and Australian Open.

34 is for her 34 career Grand Slam quarterfinals across all three disciplines. That's one in singles, 21 in women’s doubles and 12 in mixed doubles. And she could add to those soon...

35 is for her age when she reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal in singles, at the 2021 Australian Open, taking out then-Top 10 player Bianca Andreescu along the way and ultimately falling to Osaka, who went on to win the title.

36 is for her 36 doubles wins in 2025. She won twice as many matches as she lost this past year, going 36-18.

37 is for her 37 career tour-level titles in doubles, which includes 35 in women’s doubles and two in mixed doubles.

38 is for her age when she retired from singles in 2024. She played the individual discipline for the last time at 2024 Miami.

39 is for her age when she reached her 11th and 12th career Grand Slam finals across all disciplines, at the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2025—both alongside Ostapenko.

And finally, 40 is for her 40 career tour-level titles across all three disciplines, three in singles, 35 in women’s doubles and two in mixed, as well as for turning 40 years young today!