Li Na

Li Na (February 26, 1982 -), native of Wuhan, Hubei Province, is a former professional tennis player in China. She is the winner of two Grand Slam championships. Her highest world ranking is No. 2. She has won nine WTA Tour singles championships in her career. After winning the French Open in 2011, Li Na became the first Grand Slam champion born in Asia in tennis history. He turned professional in 1999 and retired briefly from 2002 to 2004 to return to school. After her comeback in 2004, she won the Guangzhou International Women's Tennis Open and became the first Chinese player in history to win a WTA Tour championship. In 2006, she reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam for the first time and became the first Chinese player to win a WTA Tour title. After that, she reached the Grand Slam quarter-finals 10 times in her career, including four Grand Slam women's singles finals, and finally won 2 championships and 2 runner-up results. At the 2011 French Open, Li Na defeated four top ten players to win the final championship, becoming the first Asian female player to win a Grand Slam championship. At the 2014 Australian Open, Li Na advanced to the Australian Open women's singles final for the third time and won the final championship, becoming the first Asian player to win the Australian Open women's singles championship. In the 2013 WTA year-end finals, Li Na reached the finals for the first time. Although she won the runner-up, her career ranking reached a new high, rising to the third position in the world. In February 2014, Li Na's world ranking rose to second in the world, becoming the first Asian player in history to reach second in the world. (Also the highest-ranked Asian player, surpassed by Naomi Osaka in 2019.) After Wimbledon in July 2014, Li Na suffered a knee injury that kept her away from the court for two months. In September, she sent a farewell letter and decided to retire. In 2019, Li Na was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Li Na is a pioneer of Chinese tennis and has made many histories. She was once the most successful tennis player in Asia and was selected into Time's 100 People in 2013. In her fifteen-year career, Li Na reached the WTA women's singles finals 21 times, and won a total of 9 WTA and 19 ITF singles championships. Her total career record was 503 wins and 188 losses, and she retired as the sixth ranked player in the world.