After announcing on January 21st that she was retiring, Latisha Chan (formerly Chan Yung-Jan) became the first player from Taiwan to be fêted for her career at a Grand Slam tournament.
The 36-year-old was recognized in a ceremony at Melbourne Park, having said that the Australian Open was where her career began. In 2004, she and Shen-Nan Sun won the AO Girls’ Junior Doubles, 7-5, 6-3, over Veronika Chvojková and Nicole Vaidišová.
Also in Melbourne, Chan made her Grand Slam main draw debut in 2007, partnering Chuang Chia-jung. The wild cards were Women’s Doubles finalists to the champions Cara Black and Liezel Huber, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1 .
Then 10 years later, teaming with Zhen Jie, she was a 6-4, 7-6 Woman’s Doubles finalist to Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Šafářová.
The past two years have been challenging for Chan and she has played only four matches. Her recovery from injury was hampered by Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome – an autonomic nerve system dysfunction that can result in chronic fatigue, dizziness, fainting, lightheadedness, headaches, nausea, and physical problems that result from standing. The condition brought her career to an end.
Chan won 33 doubles titles from 59 finals, including nine WTA 100o tournaments and the US Open with Martina Hingis in 2017. That year, she was World Doubles No. 1 for 34 weeks, collecting 11 titles. Nine of those were won with Hingis and two with her younger sister Chan Hao-Ching (Angel).
After Serena and Venus Williams, Latisha and Angel Chan are the second most successful “Sister Doubles” team in tennis history with 14 titles together.
The three Mixed Doubles trophies she and Ivan Dodig won… Roland Garros in 2018 and 2019, and Wimbledon in 2019… further established Chan’s status as one of the best doubles players in the women’s game.
