A Daring Competitor

By+yin+Pumin

on September 19， Chinese tennis trailblazer and reigning Australian Open champion Li Na brought down the curtain on a glittering 15-year professional career with the announcement of her official retirement from the Womens Tennis Association（WTA）.

“Representing China on the tennis court was an extraordinary privilege and a true honor. Having the unique opportunity to effectively bring more attention to the sport of tennis in China and all over Asia is something I will cherish forever. But in sport， just like in life， all great things must come to an end，” Li said in her farewell letter.

Winner of nine WTA singles titles， two doubles titles and a two-time Grand Slam champion， the 32-year-old marks the end of a career that saw her become one of the best and most popular players in the history of womens tennis.

“Li Na has been a fun， powerful， and wonderful player on the WTA tour and， along with her fans， I am sad to hear that she has retired，” said Stacey Allaster， Chairwoman and CEO of the WTA， adding that in addition to Lis amazing tennis abilities and warm personality， she is a pioneer who opened doors to tennis for hundreds of millions of people throughout China and Asia. “Thanks to all she has achieved and contributed， her legacy is immense and I have no doubt that her contributions to the WTA will be seen for decades to come in China， throughout Asia and the rest of the world.”

Ups and downs

Li was born on February 26， 1982， in the city of Wuhan， central Chinas Hubei Province. Her father had been a badminton player for the provincial team but died when Li was 14.

At the age of 9， Li switched from playing badminton to tennis and made the national team in 1997， becoming a professional tennis player two years later. In 2000， she partnered with Li Ting to win the WTA Tashkent Open womens doubles title， becoming the first tennis tournament champions from China.

She quit the WTA tour between 2002 and 2004 over doubts about her own progress. During that time， she completed a Bachelors degree in journalism at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan.

Gaining more confidence and knowledge， Li returned to the national team in 2004. She married Jiang Shan， also her coach and training partner， in 2006. Jiang coached her before Danish coach Michael Mortensen joined her team in May 2011.

Li etched her name in the history books at Roland Garros in June 2011 when she became the first Asian player to win a Grand Slam singles title， defeating Top 10 rivals in each of her last four matches. Earlier in 2011 she was the first player from the region to reach a major final， finishing runner-up to Kim Clijsters at the Australian Open.

After winning the French Open title， Li expressed her gratitude to her husband， saying，“Although he is not my coach any more， I want to give many thanks to him. He always understands me and tolerates me.”

However， Li struggled after Roland Garros， winning only six matches for the remainder of the year， and she constantly saw her name in headlines questioning her mental toughness. She confessed that sometimes she would even shiver just seeing her name in a newspaper， fearing that her comments would be wrongly interpreted by the media.

After a disappointing Olympic campaign in 2012， Li hired Carlos Rodriguez， former mentor of seven-time major winner Justine Henin， as her new coach. She soon developed good chemistry with the Argentinean.

Under Rodriguezs guidance， Li rekindled her form in 2013， reaching the Australian Open final， the quarterfinals in Wimbledon and the semis of the U.S. Open， as well as improving her world ranking to No. 3.

Finally Li captured her second Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January this year—just the second woman over age 30 to win the title in the Open Era， after Margaret Court. The victory helped propel Li to World No.2 on February 17， the highest ranking ever attained by an Asian player.

Along the way， Li established a string of breakthroughs for Chinese tennis， alongside her Grand Slam title triumphs. She was the first to win a WTA singles title in 2004 and first to win a WTA Premier title in 2011； first to reach a Grand Slam singles quarterfinal in 2006， first to compete in singles at the WTA Finals in 2011-13， and first to crack the singles Top 20 on August 14， 2006， Top 10 on February 1， 2010 and Top 5 on June 6， 2011.

Another way

Apart from the history Li made on the court， the successes she made in her professional career show another way for Chinese athletes to achieve at top levels， in addition to the national sports system.

The Chinese Government invests heavily in sport and recruits athletes at a young age. Through a “national system，” which features strict training and a stable income for athletes， a number of world champions have been created.

It was under this system that the Chinese Government made a strategic decision to get some Chinese faces into professional tennis， an emerging market in the country.

When Li was on the national team， her coach was very strict. She also found it hard to play to her full potential in the team， especially after her storming style of attack was discouraged by some coaches.

In 2002， she chose to retire from her career as a tennis player. “Her early retirement was due to her disappointment with the rigid management style of the national tennis team，” said Sun Jinfang， Director of the Tennis Administration Center （TAC） of the General Administration of Sport of China.

In addition to the centers stiff management style and outdated training methods， Li was also frustrated with the practice of dividing prize money between the entire team. According to a long-established rule， each winning player was required to turn over 65 percent of his or her prize to the sports authorities.

Though Li returned to the national team in 2004 at the persuasion of Sun， her dissatisfaction with the national system surfaced again after her failed attempt to defend the womens single title at the 10th National Games in 2005.

“The failure is attributable to the national tennis teams defective system，” Li complained at the post-match press conference.“It would be better for them to link a players performance to actual awards.” Her remarks were widely quoted by the media and were interpreted as a blunt critique of the athlete training system.

In December of 2008， along with three other female players， Li left the national team to take part in an experimental program for tennis players widely known as “fly alone.”

The program granted them the freedom to pick their own coaches and make arrangements for their training and tournament schedules. Moreover， they only needed to hand 8 percent of their prize money to the TAC.

“We took a lot of risks with the reform. When we let them fly， we didnt know if they would succeed. Now they are successful， which means our reform was correct，” said Sun.

“For the sport of tennis， the teenage period should take place in the national system， because China is still a developing country and tennis coaching requires a lot of money. No professional athletes could come out alone without the national systems backup，” Sun said. “Of course， when athletes come to a cross- roads， we let them play individually on the world stage， promoting the sport in China.”

However， many others dont agree. They believe Lis success has entirely relied on her own hard work and courage in breaking free of the shackles of the state-run sports system， so that she managed her own athletic career.

“Lis story proves that in an international， professionalized sport like tennis， our national system constrains personal growth，” said Zhang Wei， a sports editor with Jiefang Daily.

Longtime sports commentator Sun Qun said that it was the independent streak that helped Li become “a true professional athlete.”

Regardless， Lis story can teach other Chinese athletes a thing or two. “It proved that there exists another way for athletes to find success outside the national sports system，”said Ren Hai， a professor of Olympic studies at Beijing Sport University.