The 21st century
China · born Wuhan, 1982 · right-handed · first Chinese player to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final, at Wimbledon in 2006
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2006
Wimbledon quarter-final, the first by a Chinese player at any Grand Slam event
3
Wimbledon quarter-finals: 2006, 2010 and 2013
7-5, 6-1
Birmingham final of 2010 against Maria Sharapova, her first grass title
2
Grand Slam singles titles: French Open 2011, Australian Open 2014
No. 2
Career-high ranking, 2014
Li Na was born in Wuhan, Hubei, in 1982 and took up tennis at eight after two years of badminton. Her father died when she was 14, and she came to see tennis as her only chance to support her mother. At 20, in 2002, she left the game to study journalism, and returned to the tour in 2004.
She broke into the top 30 in 2006, the first Chinese player to do so, and that summer reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals. In 2008 she left the state-run national team system to manage her own career. She won the French Open in 2011, the first Grand Slam singles title by an Asian player, and the Australian Open in 2014, after losing the finals there in 2011 and 2013. She also reached the US Open semi-finals in 2013 and rose to No. 2 in 2014.
Knee injuries ended her career; she announced her retirement on 19 September 2014. In 2019 she became the first Asian player inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
| Birmingham 2010 | As top seed, beat the second seed Maria Sharapova 7-5, 6-1 in the final for her first grass singles title |
|---|---|
| Birmingham 2009 | Beat Sharapova in the semi-final, then lost the final to Magdaléna Rybáriková 6-0, 7-6 (2) |
| Wimbledon 2006 | On her main-draw debut, as 27th seed, beat Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third round and Nicole Vaidisova 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 in the fourth, then lost to Kim Clijsters in the quarter-finals |
| Wimbledon 2011 | Two weeks after winning the French Open, lost in the second round to Sabine Lisicki 3-6, 6-4, 8-6 on Centre Court, after holding two match points that Lisicki saved with service winners |
| Wimbledon quarter-finals | 2010, lost to Serena Williams; 2013, lost to Agnieszka Radwańska in three sets |
| Birmingham | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Women's doubles | with Jelena Janković |
| 2010 | Women's singles | |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"I'm proud for myself and for my country."
The person behind the player.
Roehampton 2003
Li first tried to reach Wimbledon in 2003 and lost in the first round of qualifying at Roehampton. Her main-draw debut came three years later, and she went all the way to the quarter-finals.
Source: The Irish Times, 4 July 2006Wimbledon 2006
After coming from a set down to beat Nicole Vaidisova, Li gave the press a short lesson in match play: "There is no solution for any match before the match is finished."
Source: The Irish Times, 4 July 20062002 to 2004
At 20 Li walked away from tennis to study journalism. She returned to the tour in 2004. Of the time away she later wrote: "Freedom was delicious."
Source: International Tennis Hall of FameAustralian Open 2014
Li was known for her dry humour at trophy ceremonies. After winning the 2014 Australian Open, she thanked her agent with: "Make me rich. Thanks a lot."
Source: International Tennis Hall of Fame2008
In 2008, under an experimental reform, Li left China's state-run system to run her own career; Chinese media called it Fly Solo. Her two Grand Slam titles came after the change.
Source: WikipediaFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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