Sport: Tennis
Date of birth: February 26, 1982
Home: Wuhan, Hubei Province
Height: 1.72 metersWeight: 62 kg
Major Achievements:
2004 Guangzhou Open: Champion, women's singles
2006 Wimbledon: Quarterfinals
2008 Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourts: Champion, women's singles
Becoming a tennis player was an accident for Li Na. At the age of five, she was sent to school to learn badminton. A year later, she was chosen by Xia Xiyao, a coach at the Wuhan Amateur Sports School, to learn tennis. This changed Li Na's life.
Li's tennis career has not been smooth sailing. Due to health problems and tremendous mental pressure, she retired in 2002. "I achieved good results but I wasn't happy. I felt I was playing for others rather than for myself, and the pressure almost crushed me," Li said.
After careful consideration, Li decided to return to tennis in 2004. Since then, her career has entered a brilliant phase. She won 51 of 55 matches in 2004 and captured the Guangzhou Open, which made her the first Chinese player to win a WTA tournament championship.
At the 2006 French Open, Li was the only Chinese player to advance to the 3rd round. That same year at Wimbledon, Li became the first Chinese tennis player to be seeded at a Grand Slam event.
In an impressive fourth-round match, she came from behind to defeat fifth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia. Her performance at Wimbledon made her the first Chinese quarterfinalist at a Grand Slam event.
In 2006, she became the first Chinese woman to be ranked in the WTA top 30. More and more people believe that Li is the player most likely to lead China's women's tennis team to a breakthrough at the Beijing Olympic Games.
(China.org.cn June 20, 2008)