Chinese tennis sensation Li Na has made remarkable strides in her career over the past two years, culminating with her first Grand Slam title at the French Open recently - defeating defending champion Francesca Schiavone in straight sets, 6-4 7-6.
It has been a difficult 12 years on the professional tour for the 29-year-old Li, through various injuries and a dedication toward studies at university, but her career started to go in the right direction when she made a significant breakthrough at the 2009 US Open.
With just two wins on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour, and a quarter-final defeat at the 2006 Wimbledon Championships being her best Grand Slam appearance after 10 years of pro tennis, age looked to be creeping up on the native of Wuhan. But her good form in the second half of 2009 helped Li to a career high 15th place in the world rankings for the start of the following year.
With her higher seeding bringing with it a more favourable draw, Li became the first Chinese woman to be ranked in the top 10 when she made it all the way to the semi-finals of the 2010 Australian Open, only to be defeated by the eventual winner Serena Williams. Later in the year Li fell at the third round of the French Open to Schiavone, who also went on to be crowned champion.
Success finally came when Li won the AEGON Classic in Birmingham before reaching the last eight at Wimbledon, where she was once more beaten by Serena Williams – who again went on to claim the title. But the Chinese right-hander’s new-found consistency was to help consolidate her place in the top 10 in the year-end rankings.
This year could not have started any better for Li, who brushed aside her opponents to make the final of the 2011 Medibank International in Sydney. Standing in the way of another tour victory was Belgian ace Kim Clijsters, who beat her in the quarter-finals of the 2009 US Open. Amazingly, having trailed 5-0 in the first set, China’s latest sports star turned the match around and went on to win 7-6 6-3.
A month later, Li became the first Chinese player to reach a Grand Slam singles final when she beat Denmark’s world number one Caroline Wozniacki in the semi-finals of the Australian Open. Again Clijsters stood at the other end of the court in the final, but the result was reversed despite Li’s best efforts in taking the first set.
A dramatic drop in form followed, with Li producing a five-match losing streak. The solution to this run of bad results was to sack her husband, Jiang Shan, and appoint Michael Mortensen as her new coach. Li’s resurgence eventually came at the start of May, with back-to-back appearances in the semi-finals of the Mutua Madrid Open and Internazion-ali BNL d’Italia.
It was this return to form that led Li Na to become the first Asian to win a Grand Slam title, with an estimated 116 million television viewers of the final in China alone. The triumph lifted Li to number four in the world rankings - only the second Asian player to reach so high a spot, equalling the achievement of Japan’s Kimiko Date-Krumm in 1995.
