It certainly pays to win Grand Slam titles if one is a player from somewhere in or around China. After Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei and her partner Peng Shuai of China won the women’s doubles title at Wimbledon, a bidding war broke for the services of Hsieh Su-wei’s services.
After Hsieh became the first Taiwanese to win a Grand Slam tennis title, a liquor company from China’s Qinghai Province offered her about $164,000 US dollars to become a citizen of the People’s of Republic of China and play on behalf of the province.
Her father said the deal had to be considered because the amount of money his daughter gets from Taiwanese companies isn’t enough to cover the $133,000 dollars or she spends annually on travel and training expenses, which would be considered a very high number for a doubles player. Hsieh has earned $2.28 million in prize money over her eight-year career.
Consequently, some Taiwanese entrepreneurs got together and pledged $140,000 to a sponsor top Taiwanese athletes.
Then, according to the Taipei Times. Hsu An-Hsun, chairman of Taiwan Tobacco & Liquor Co said he would be interested in possibly sponsoring Hsieh and her siblings, who also play tennis.
Lee Ying-Yuan, a politician for Democratic Progressive Party, which is considered to anti-China, said that if Hsieh emigrated it could set off a domino effect of Taiwanese athletes leaving to compete for China
World pool champion, Wu Chia-chin emigrated to China in 2011 for greater riches.
Hsieh Tzu-lung has been accused by some of approaching the Chinese government himself in order to set of a bidding for his daughter’s services.
Hsieh and Peng did get into a bit of dispute after they won Wimbledon, even though they spent most of their press conference laughing together. When Hsieh was asked what the victory would mean to Taiwan, Chinese national Peng interrupted, saying that Taiwan isn’t a country. Mainland China calls Taiwan “Chinese Taipei.”
Hsieh eventually responded on Facebook saying. “I’m not playing political games with you. “Sports are sports.”
On a more positive note, a $66,000 fund was set up in Hsieh Su-wei’s name to encourage local tennis development The Chinese Taipei Tennis Association was said to have put half the money, while the rest is said to have come from Hsieh’s father.
©Daily Tennis News Wire
Topics: Chinese tennis news, Hsieh Su-Wei, Peng Shuai, People's of Republic of China tennis news, Sports, Taiwanese tennis news, Tennis News, Wimbledon Championships, women doubles champion, Wta
Bidding War Erupts For Hsieh Su-wei’s Services – http://t.co/YiAgIu6rJ3 #HsiehSuwei #tennis @Wimbledon @BleacherReport @ESPNTennis