Li Na, a star reborn

Li Na, left, and her husband Jiang Shan at the launch of the new edition of her autobiography in Beijing, Feb 22, 2014. [Photo by Zou Hong / China Daily]

All about Li Na

While regaining her form on court, Li has also tried to mend her sometimes tense relations with Chinese media, encouraged by Rodriguez. But an outburst at a news conference at last year's French Open made things worse.

Asked what she wanted to say to her home fans in China after losing in the second round, Li, apparently annoyed by her own performance, responded: "I just lost a match and that's it. Do I need to get on my knees and kowtow to them?"

Li's comments immediately drew condemnation in Chinese media and outrage from postings on China's popular micro-blogging platform Sina Weibo.

Feeling overwhelmed by the criticism, Li considered quitting the game before the Wimbledon championships, but a long talk with Rodriguez settled her down.

"Whether the reports are positive or negative, the media made me famous," says Li, who turned 32 on Feb 26. "You won't have 100-percent support no matter what you do."

Li made a new effort at Wimbledon and rediscovered her passion for the game after reaching the quarterfinals.

The rejuvenated Li moved on to qualify for the semis at the US Open before successfully defending her Shenzhen Open title at the beginning of 2014. The Australian Open championship made up for her disappointing finish last year, when she tumbled twice in the final and lost to eventual winner Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.

Suddenly everything looks bright again for Li. The number of followers on Li's personal Sina Weibo account soared to more than 22.4 million, more than the amount of Twitter followers on the sites of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova combined. Her career prize money reached $15 million with the $2.3 million purse at Melbourne.

Now Li will see more sponsors competing to put their brands on her, says sports consultancy expert Zhang Qing.

"Undoubtedly, Li is currently the most commercially valuable sports star in China, where the 1.3 billion population behind her is so appealing for enterprises," Zhang says.

On the strength of her success, the popularity of tennis should soar to a new level in China, too. The Women's Tennis Association will hold 10 tournaments in China this year, including one in Li's home city of Wuhan, while 60 percent of the organization's 70 million active followers on social media are from China.

"As she has done throughout her career, she continues to set new milestones for Chinese tennis. Her accomplishment is truly inspirational and the WTA is fortunate to have such an ambassador representing the sport around the world," says Stacey Allaster, WTA chairman and CEO.

Contact the writer at sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn.

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