Education
At the end of 2002, Li left the national tennis team to study part-time at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, where she completed her bachelor's degree in journalism in 2009. However, Li returned to the national team in 2004.
At the end of 2002, Li left the national tennis team to study part-time at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, where she completed her bachelor's degree in journalism in 2009. However, Li returned to the national team in 2004.
1999–2004:
Li turned professional in 1999, and that year won three of the very first four singles. She also won all of her first seven ITF doubles tournaments she entered.
In 2000, she won a total of 52 singles matches on the ITF circuit, more than any other player, notching another eight tournament titles including one at $50,000 level, two at $25,000, and an unbroken run of four successive $10,000 tournament wins in March and April.
2004-2005:
In May 2004, Li returned to the competition after having not played since 2002. Although she was unranked, she won 26 successive matches to notch three further $25,000 tournament wins and another $50,000 title, increasing her career singles title count to 18. That September, she lost in the final of a $25,000 tournament to compatriot Zheng Jie, before returning to the WTA circuit, thanks to a wildcard entry into qualifying at the Beijing. In 2005 saw Li finally abandoning the ITF circuit to focus solely on WTA-level events.
2006: First Chinese Grand Slam quarterfinalist
With nearly all her remaining ranking points to defend concentrated in a little over the first four months of the year, Li Na began the year faced with the challenge of equalling her strong results from the early part of 2005 in order to maintain her position in the middle reaches of the WTA top 100.
2007:
Li Na at 2008 Fortis Championships Luxembourg. Li Na started the year by participating a Tier III event in Gold Coast, Australia, where she reached the second round. The next week, she competed in Sydney. Li Na followed her strong showing at the Medibank tournament with an equally strong showing at the 2007 Australian Open, where she advanced to the fourth round.
2008-2009:
Li Na had not played a professional match in half a year and had resultantly slipped to no. 29 in the WTA rankings when she returned from her rib injury in January 2008 to compete at the 2008 Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourts in Gold Coast, Australia. Li withdrew from both the inaugural Brisbane International, where she was defending champion (as she won the title at Gold Coast in 2008), and the Australian Open because of a right-knee injury. She made her comeback at the Paris Open.
2010-2012:
Li's first tournament of 2010 was the 2010 ASB Classic in Auckland, where she was seeded second. She was defeated by Kaia Kanepi in the first round. In the Medibank International, she defeated fourth seed Caroline Wozniacki but lost to Flavia Pennetta in the second round. Li was the ninth seed at the 2011 Australian Open, where she reached her first Grand Slam singles final. Li started her 2012 season in the 2012 Hopman Cup, where she won all three single rubbers against Marion Bartoli, Anabel Medina Garrigues and Jarmila Gajdosova.
Quotations:
"I would prefer to have no money but to have a nice family and good friends around."
"People in China say: 'If you love your children, send them to New York. If you hate your children, also send them to New York."
"In badminton, they use a lot from the wrist. But I use a lot from the shoulder."
"I just keep fighting and try to be the last one standing."
"Tennis is best of three sets, so even if I lose the first set, I still have a chance."
"I need some time to recover. I'm not a machine."
"I just follow my heart."
"I don't need to worry about being idolised."
At age six, Li Na started playing badminton, following her father's footsteps. Just before she turned eight, Li made the transition from badminton to tennis when she and her parents were convinced by coach Xia Xiyao of the Wuhan youth tennis club that this would be the right career move for her. Li joined China's National Tennis Team in 1997 and turned professional in 1999.