Li Na calls it quits

LETTER FROM LI NA:
My dear friends,
For close to fifteen years, we’ve been a part of
each other’s lives. As a tennis player
representing China on the global stage, I’ve
trekked around the world playing hundreds of
matches on the WTA tour, for China’s Fed Cup
team, at the National Games and at several
Olympic Games. You’ve always been there for
me, supporting me, cheering me on, and
encouraging me to reach my potential.
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.
2014 has become one of the most significant
years in my career and my life. This year was
full of amazing highlights, which included
winning my second Grand Slam singles title at
the Australian Open and sharing the
extraordinary experience with my country, my
team, my husband and my fans. It was also a
year filled with difficult moments, such as
having to deal with the inevitable - making the
decision to end my professional tennis career.
The amazing moment in Australia was filled
with joy, happiness and extraordinary sense of
accomplishment. The task of finally making a
decision to hang up my racquet felt a lot more
difficult than winning seven matches in a row
in the Australian heat. It took me several
agonizing months to finally come to the
decision that my chronic injuries will never
again let me be the tennis player that I can be.
Walking away from the sport, effective
immediately, is the right decision for me and
my family.
Most people in the tennis world know that my
career has been marked by my troubled right
knee. The black brace I wear over it when I
step on the court has become my tennis birth
mark. And while the brace completes my
tennis look, the knee problems have at times
overtaken my life.
After four knee surgeries and hundreds of
shots injected into my knee weekly to alleviate
swelling and pain, my body is begging me to
stop the pounding. My previous three surgeries
were on my right knee. My most recent knee
surgery took place this July and was on my left
knee. After a few weeks of post-surgery
recovery, I tried to go through all the
necessary steps to get back on the court.
While I’ve come back from surgery in the past,
this time it felt different. One of my goals was
to recover as fast as I could in order to be
ready for the first WTA tournament in my
hometown of Wuhan. As hard as I tried to get
back to being 100%, my body kept telling me
that, at 32, I will not be able to compete at the
top level ever again. The sport is just too
competitive, too good, to not be 100%.
Winning a Grand Slam title this year and
achieving a ranking of World No.2 is the way I
would like to leave competitive tennis. As hard
as it’s been to come to this decision, I am at
peace with it. I have no regrets. I was not
supposed to be here in the first place,
remember? Not many people believed in my
talent and my abilities, yet I found a way to
persevere, to prove them (and sometimes
myself!) wrong.
I’ve succeeded on the global stage in a sport
that a few years ago was in its infancy in
China. What I’ve accomplished for myself is
beyond my wildest dreams. What I
accomplished for my country is one of my
most proud achievements.
In 2008, there were two professional women’s
tennis tournaments in China. Today, there are
10, one of them in Wuhan, my hometown. That
to me is extraordinary! Serena Williams, Maria
Sharapova and Venus Williams – with thirty
Grand Slam singles titles among them - are
coming to my hometown to play tennis for the
fans of China! Just as I didn’t think I could
ever be a Grand Slam champion, never in my
wildest dreams did I imagine that some of the
best female athletes in the world could play
tennis in Wuhan, in my backyard.
My contributions to the growth of the sport in
China are very special to me. But I don’t want
to stop here. Together with IMG, my
management company, we are putting together
various plans on how we will continue to grow
the sport of tennis in China. These plans
include opening the Li Na Tennis Academy,
which will provide scholarships for the future
generation of Chinese tennis stars. I will also
stay involved in the Right to Play, an
organization dedicated to helping
underprivileged children overcome challenges
through sport. My philanthropic work will
expand in scope as I continue to dedicate
myself to helping those in need. What was
once just a dream in China today is a reality.
On a personal side, I look forward to starting a
new chapter of my life, hopefully having a
family and reconnecting with those I did not
have the luxury of spending a lot of time with
while playing. I can’t wait to revisit all the
amazing places I played tennis in and see the
world through a new set of eyes. I look
forward to slowing down and living my life at a
new, slower, relaxed pace.
Tennis is an individual sport and as players,
our job is to spend a lot of time focusing on
ourselves. But no player can ever become a
champion alone and nobody knows this better
than me. There isn’t enough space here to
thank everyone who has travelled on my
journey with me and contributed to my
success. But I must thank those that have
stuck with me through the highs and the lows
and have helped me become the person that I
am today.
THANK YOU TO:
• My mother – for your never-ending support.
Through the laughs and the tears, you’ve
always been there for me.
• My father – you were taken away from me
way too early and I haven’t been the same
since. You’ve remained the sunshine in my life
and I am who I am because of you.
• Jiang Shan – you’ve been by my side for 20
years. You are my everything and I am grateful
to have shared my life with you.
• My first coaches Ms. Xia Xiyao and Ms. Yu
Liqiao - for putting me on the tennis path.
• Madame Sun and the Chinese Tennis
Association - thank you for being trailblazers
for tennis in China.
• Mr. Hu Dechun and the Hubei Sports Bureau
– for understanding me and supporting me
through the years.
• Women’s Tennis Association – for your
passion for women’s tennis and hard work
growing it around the world.
• Mr. Chan Hongchang – for supporting me
when I first decided to become a professional
tennis player in 2008. You helped me make up
my mind.
• Thomas Hogstedt – for introducing me to
professional tennis.
• Michael Mortenson – for helping me win my
first Grand Slam.
• Carlos Rodriguez – for pushing me beyond
the limits I thought I could reach.
• Alex Stober – for taking care of me all of
these years and pulling me together when I
was falling apart.
• Erich Rembeck and Johannes Wieber – for
finding a way to make me pain free, over and
over again.
• Fred Zhang and the Nike team – you’ve been
my guiding light, my support system and my
biggest cheerleader. I will never forget it.
• To my agent Max Eisenbud and the entire
IMG Team - for being the best management
company in the world and for taking care of
me every day.
• To all the sponsors that have supported me
through every stage of my career.
• To my relatives, friends, and everyone who
has helped me throughout my career – for
always being there for me and for your never-
ending support.
• To my fellow tennis players – for being a part
of my journey all of these years. I have so
much respect for all of you.
• To everyone in the media who’s covered my
career and helped the growth of tennis in
China and around the world.
• To the amazing tennis fans around the world
– for your unyielding support of our sport and
for playing every tennis match along with me.
• And lastly, to tennis fans in China – for
getting on the bandwagon and staying on it! I
am grateful to each and every one of you for
pushing me to be my best, embracing me and
loving me unconditionally. There is no limit to
how far we can take the sport of tennis in
China, together.
When I started playing tennis, I was just a
neighborhood kid with an after-school hobby,
not realizing what magical journey lay ahead of
me. If I only knew what a vehicle the sport of
tennis, along with my success, would become
for my beloved China. While my journey hasn’t
been easy, it has been rewarding. I’ve seen
change happening in front of my eyes, young
girls picking up tennis racquets, setting goals,
following their hearts and believing in
themselves. I hope that I’ve had the
opportunity to inspire young women all over
China to believe in themselves, to set their
goals high and pursue them with vengeance
and self-belief.
Whether you want to be a tennis player, a
doctor, a lawyer, a teacher or a business
leader, I urge you to believe in yourself and
follow your dream. If I could do it, you can too!
Be the bird that sticks out. With hard work,
your dreams will come true.
LI NA

Not even playing the Asian swing. A shame but she has her sights on family life. All the best

Good fighter, good character, hope she makes more then 1 child (maybe the Party will allow it) and have a good Academy, as we need more Asians on tour.

One of my favourite players - good to watch, great temperament, no grunting and v pleasant person. Shame she's gone but good to finish on a high (as defending Aus Open champion) before her career gets blighted by injury.