Li Na Inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame
Li Na officially took her place in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, becoming the first player from China and Asia to receive this honor.
Li Na officially took her place in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, becoming the first player from China and Asia to receive this honor.
Li Na defeated Cibulkova in the 2014 Australian Open final to claim the second Grand Slam title of her career.
In 2014, a serious knee injury forced Li Na to bid farewell to the professional tour, and she announced the end of her professional tennis career at her retirement press conference.
At the press conference after her second-round defeat at the French Open, Li Na fired back at reporters by asking, "Should I kowtow three times and kowtow nine times? Apologize to them?", sparking a huge public controversy and criticism from state media.
29-year-old Li Na defeated her opponent in the French Open women's singles final in Paris to win the title, becoming the first Asian player to win a Grand Slam singles championship.
At the end of 2008, the national team adjusted its management measures, and players such as Li Na, Zheng Jie, Peng Shuai and Yan Zi began to arrange their own training and professional competitions, putting the "flying solo" system into practice.
Li Na made a self-criticism to national team head coach Jiang Hongwei and took part in a week-long corporate employee outward-bound training arranged by the national team in Jiangmen.
After the 2005 National Games, Li Na criticized the national team's training and the distribution of prize money. Sun Jinfang publicly rebuked her, saying her ideological level was low and her moral quality was poor, and questioned her qualification to compete in the Olympics.
At the urging of Sun Jinfang, director of the tennis management center, Li Na considered it for several months before deciding to make a comeback, returning to the Hubei provincial team in January 2004 and promising to compete for Hubei at the National Games.
After leaving the national team, Li Na and Jiang Shan together entered Huazhong University of Science and Technology to study journalism, during which time the focus of their lives shifted to campus, and they occasionally played for the school.
In 2002, due to long-term pressure, endocrine disorders and an allergy to treatment hormones, along with dissatisfaction over the team's unauthorized adjustment of the mixed-doubles partner without discussion, 20-year-old Li Na left a retirement application, departed the national team and returned to Wuhan.