BEIJING:China’s Li Na, Asia’s only Grand Slam singles champion, announced her retirement from tennis on Friday, citing the effect of long-term injuries, especially her knees.
“It has been a difficult year, and I have had to face a lot of things, such as making the decision to end my professional tennis career,” Li said in a statement.
The 32-year-old won the 2011 French Open and this year’s Australian Open. Known affectionately as “Big Sister Na” and “Golden Flower” in China, she said it was the right time to leave the court.
“As a professional tennis player, leaving the field of competition at this moment is for me the correct decision,” she added.
The pain in her right knee had become hard to deal with, Li said.
The Chinese Tennis Association, in a statement released by the official Xinhua news agency, said it respected her decision and wished her the best.
For many young people in China, Li is a role model, with her steely determination, broad smile and English language skills emblematic of a confident and rising country.
Sport and politics remain tightly woven in China, where elite athletes are handpicked from a young age to be nurtured by the state. Only a handful are allowed to manage their own careers.
Li, who was identified as a potential badminton talent as a child, was steered into tennis before her teenage years, but had to be coaxed back into the game in 2004 after walking away to study media at university. (Reuters)
