Retiring Li Has Eyes on Business, and Future of Tennis in China
After already undergoing three surgeries on her right knee, Li Na knew her career was in jeopardy in March when the left began to swell, too.
'This is a new injury for me,' Li recalled in a phone interview from Beijing on Sunday. 'Now the tennis, especially on the women's side, is really strong. If you want to keep on a high level, you have to keep the body fit. And now I cannot do that anymore, and so I say maybe now is the time, because it's a waste of time if you cannot train 100 percent but still play. This is not myself.'
After playing through the pain for months, Li underwent a fourth surgery in late July. When it was clear that a full recovery at 32 would be much tougher than coming back from previous surgeries when she was five years younger, Li decided to hang up her racket for good.
Li announced her retirement on Friday, and faced the media for the first time on Sunday at a news conference in Beijing. As she gave a brief opening statement, tears streamed down her cheeks, which she wiped away with tissues. But as questions came from reporters, she regained composure and poise, and expressed pride in what she had achieved.
'I do not have any regrets,' she said. 'When I made this decision, I asked myself, 'If I retire, will I feel regret?' My heart told me, 'Of course not. I tried my best in my career.' '
Unexpected tears came later from the other side of the podium, as one reporter began to cry when he was passed the microphone, too choked up to deliver his question. His tears were quickly reciprocated in Li's eyes, and she offered to share her tissues.
In addition to tissues, Li has money to spare, and as the world's second-highest paid female athlete, she could comfortably dissolve into the quiet housewife life for which she has frequently openly pined. But with a taste of retirement already, Li is convinced she needs to keep moving.
'Maybe for two months I would like to relax,' she said. 'But life has to continue. Deep in my heart, I still want to help tennis for children.'
There are locations being scouted already for a Li Na Tennis Academy, which Li hopes will be able to reflect the tenets of Western coaching methods that she preferred to the harsh techniques she endured from critical Chinese instructors. She also expressed a desire for a philanthropic tilt to her venture, including a focus on underprivileged children as well as those affected by HIV.
Though an academy is a common venture for a retired player, Li and her agent, Max Eisenbud, already have ambitions to attach her iconic status to far less obvious ventures, including opening hotels, resorts and spas branded with her name. There are even plans to launch a line of home and bath goods under Li's name in the vein of a Martha Stewart. Li and her husband, Jiang Shan, have already appeared together in commercials in China, and Eisenbud believes she can make a seamless transition into capitalizing on a more domestic image cultivated in retirement.
As she leaves the tennis arena, Li expressed confidence that new Chinese faces would soon be there to take her place and surpass her achievements, both women and as well as the Chinese men, who currently lack a presence among the ATP top 150.
'Keep an eye on and they'll be coming, even more better than Li Na,' she said. 'I hope that you can pay close attention to Chinese tennis. Maybe the next player will do better than me. I believe that.'
As Li spoke those words, a glimpse of that future might have already been in sight. Xu Shilin, a 16-year-old wild card, looked ready for world-class tennis as she played the first match of a new tournament in Wuhan, Li's hometown. Xu forced 66th-ranked Alison Riske into a third set tiebreak, but overwhelmed by the heat in a place some have nicknamed the 'Oven City,' she collapsed and was unable to finish the match.
Though Xu's result was a painful loss, a sense of continuity was inescapable. Not only had Xu played forceful, aggressive tennis like Li, she did it with her left knee taped.
Though the end was unpleasant, the match was an undeniably positive one for women's tennis, which had invested heavily and rapidly in China and Asia, even before Li's emergence. The WTA had opened a year-round office in Beijing in 2008, and made that city's tournament one of its four mandatory tournaments outside the Grand Slams. The investment paid rich dividends with Li's unexpected ascendancy, and the tour patiently but eagerly hopes her shoes will soon be filled.
'The foundation was there; Li Na amplified it,' said the WTA chief executive, Stacey Allaster. 'Not only did she amplify it, she sustained it, continuing her performance, continuing to be just an incredible champion with fans, and helping us promote women's tennis. You know, I don't think we'll ever be able to really capture her impact, but it is vast. And her legacy will continue for so many years to come.'
Allaster is looking forward to the opportunity to express her gratitude to Li during a ceremony next week at the tournament in Beijing.
'I'll see her soon, and I'll have that occasion to do it on the Diamond Court at the China Open, on behalf of all of her fans and all of our players,' she said. 'My goal will be to keep it together.'
If she can't, Allaster can at least be assured that Li will have tissues ready.
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