Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Chan Hao-ching took their simmering tennis feud from the U.S. Open to the Asian Games on Saturday, with another handshake snub adding drama to an all-Taiwan women’s doubles final.
Hsieh and Liang En-shuo defeated Chan and Wu Fang-hsien 6-4 4-6 (10-5) to win gold at the Higashiyama Park Tennis Center in Nagoya.
But the tension did not end with match point.
Chan was upset that Hsieh again declined to shake her hand, extending a dispute that spilled into public view at the U.S. Open.
The pair did not shake hands after a tense doubles match in New York, where Hsieh’s partner Jelena Ostapenko shouted at Chan’s coach in the players’ box after sealing victory. Hsieh and Chan later traded barbs on social media.
Chan said she had been prepared to leave the bad blood behind in Nagoya, particularly because both sides were representing Taiwan.
“At the US Open, I didn’t shake her hand, and that’s because in previous times I didn’t get any response and I felt that there was no point in sticking my warm face to a cold butt,” the 33-year-old said.
“But today, I felt this is a match for (Taiwan). Before the match, I decided that I would stretch out my hand after the match. But I still didn’t get to shake her hand.”
Chan, who won doubles gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games three years ago, had another grievance.
She said she felt disappointed when Taiwan’s head tennis coach applauded Hsieh during the deciding tiebreak.
“At that moment, I felt quite down. After all, his role today is the head coach,” Chan said.
Hsieh, a nine-time Grand Slam doubles champion, was unapologetic about skipping the handshake.
“It’s important to respect your opponents on court,” the 40-year-old said. “If my opponent doesn’t respect me, what’s there to say? I wouldn’t feel like shaking hands, that’s it.” (Reuters)
