Trying to Figure Out Hsieh Su-Wei
So, I started watching Hsieh Su-Wei play tennis quite a while back. Didn’t really get it at first. Everyone’s hitting hard, baseline stuff, you know? And then there she was, doing these weird spins, drop shots from nowhere, using two hands on both sides. Looked kinda messy, not like the clean textbook players.
I spent some time, just sitting and watching her matches. Not just the highlights, but the full games. My practice was basically observation. I tried to track what she did, when she did it. Why did that strange-looking slice work? How did she anticipate things so differently, especially in doubles? It wasn’t about power; it felt like pure craftiness.
- Watched old matches on repeat.
- Tried to see the patterns in her seeming randomness.
- Focused a lot on her doubles play – the communication, the way she set up her partner.
It got me thinking about a project I was stuck on at the time. Nothing major, just a personal thing I was trying to build, some kind of organizational tool for my messy notes. I kept trying the standard ways, you know, typical software patterns, database structures everyone uses. But it felt clunky, didn’t fit how my brain actually worked. Everything felt too rigid, too predictable, and honestly, boring. It just wasn’t solving my problem.
Then, watching Hsieh, it clicked. Maybe the “textbook” way wasn’t the only way. Her game is all about finding different angles, using unexpected tools, adapting constantly. She doesn’t brute force it. So, I stopped trying to force my project into a standard box.
I started messing around. Threw out the rigid structure I had planned. I began linking notes in weird, non-linear ways, more like a web than a list. Used tags like crazy, almost like she uses different spins. Let things be a bit chaotic, focusing on quick capture and retrieval from weird angles, rather than perfect, upfront organization. It wasn’t the “right” way according to any expert, probably looked as unconventional as her forehand.
And you know what? It started working. For me, anyway. It felt more natural. It wasn’t neat, wasn’t elegant in the traditional sense, but it did the job I needed it to do, matching the way I actually thought and worked. It’s still a bit of a mess, honestly, but it’s my mess, and it functions.
So yeah, that was my little experiment, kind of inspired by watching her play. Didn’t pick up a racket, didn’t learn a two-handed forehand. Just took the idea that sometimes, the weird, unpredictable, crafty way is the one that actually solves your problem, even if it looks strange from the outside. It’s about the result, not just following the instruction manual someone else wrote.
