Remaining consistently in the world top 5 best tennis player rankings, Li- Na is a professional Chinese tennis player. Playing tennis since the age of eight, Li- Na, a right hand player holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism since 2009. Born and brought up in China, Li- Na is actually the first Asian player who has actually appeared in a grand slam singles final in the year 2011 at the Australian Open. Love for sports run in her blood with her father being a professional badminton player. Li- Na herself started playing badminton at the age of 6 but with her change of interests, she switched into playing tennis and the rest in history. With the sponsorship from Nike, she also studied tennis at the John Newcombe Academy in Texas, but she returned home after a period of 9 months. Playing as a professional since the age of 16, has won 9 WTA singles titles which includes two grand slam singles final at the 2011 Australian Open. She is a three- time quarter- finalist at Wimbledon, a semi- finalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and 2013 US Open. Li- Na was a runner up at the 2013 WTA Tour Championships and 2013 Australian Open.
Li- Na remained out of the court for two successive years since 2002. But she won back to back 26 matches after returning to the field in 2004 proving yet again that her will power and determination is stronger than any other hurdle that life places in front of a human being. Married to her personal coach Shan Jiang since 2006, Li- Na is famous for living life on her own terms and this fact is evident mainly because of two reasons. First, under the “Fly Solo”experimental reform policy for Chinese players, Li- Na quit the state- run sports system as well as the national team as a result of which she was solely responsible for all her coaching expenses, tour expenses as well as her training staff. Second, she has a tattoo on her chest which was not heard of until recently because tattoos, especially on woman is not acceptable in China on a wide basis. After recovering from a rib injury in January 2008 and her knee injury a little later, Li- Na gained her position back in the top 5 charts of the best tennis players in the world despite slipping to number 28 as a result of the injury. Considered as one of the cleanest and accurate player in the tennis world today, Li- Na has a little bit problems with the inconsistency she suffers while on the field. But with every passing day, she has now improved her consistency as well as her mental stability and has in fact improved her all round game performance. This improvement is well visible in her ranking today which is number 2 at present. Just as any other player in any field who tops the world charts, the reason for Li- Na’s success is not only her strength and determination but her unending spirit of not giving up.
