Venise Chan Wing-yau transitions from tennis to padel, aims for Asian Games debut

Christened the “future Venus Williams of Hong Kong tennis” after reaching the national championships final at 12, Venise Chan Wing-yau is grateful in hindsight that she was spared the social media glare that shines so harshly on today’s emerging stars.

Still, a quarter of a century later and Chan is still putting herself out there. Still very quick to get the hang of her chosen sport, too.

After switching her focus to padel at the beginning of this year, Chan will represent Hong Kong in what is the world’s fastest-growing racquet sport on its Asian Games debut this month.

It will mark a return for Chan to the multi-sport spectacular, 12 years after she competed in the last of her three Games as a tennis player. In the intervening period, Chan carved out a career in pickleball and was part of the city team that reached the World Cup final in America last year.

After originally trying padel with a colleague from Carret Private Capital, where she works as a risk and compliance director, Chan started thinking in January that “maybe I could try for the Asian Games”.

“Once I started playing, I didn’t stop,” she said.