Let Chinese players have fun, urges Li
Print Edition
TENNIS trailblazer Li Na said China’s up-and-coming players needed to be allowed to have fun and express themselves, warning it will take time before the country has another major winner.
Li said it was her “dream” to help develop the next generation, which is already blossoming with 12 Chinese players in the top 200.
“You need to give time for them to see the tour,” Li said. “Because right now there are so many young players they are just coming out, so they need the experience to do it.”
China has eight Women’s Tennis Association events this year, a push inspired by the huge TV audiences which watched Li’s 2011 French Open and 2014 Australian Open victories.
Li, now 33, quit tennis on the eve of the inaugural Wuhan Open last year, but she has been feted this week as she re-emerged in the public eye after giving birth to a baby girl in June.
Fans clutching pictures of Li were out in force to watch a short public coaching session, and she enjoyed a deafening reception when she opened the new tennis stadium on Sunday.
“In the beginning I was feeling a lot of pressure and maybe one second I think maybe I cannot hold it anymore,” Li admitted.
“I (had) to do it because I love (tennis). So I just followed my heart to try the best.”
Such difficulties are not what Li would recommend to China’s emerging players, and she said they needed to be given “room for them to make fun,” something she had to learn to do for herself.
Li’s on-court victory speeches often had fans in stitches, but there were also confrontations with Chinese media including one episode when she fled the Australian Open press room in tears. “If someone likes you, of course someone (else) will hate you,” Li said. “In the last couple of years (of my career) I think I learned a lot, how to communicate with some media.”
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