Li Video Score: / five

China hasn’t produced too many great tennis players over the years and that’s why, the young kids in China were not that much attracted towards this sport in the past. But, Li Na’s success in professional circuit has changed that scenario completely. Now, the Chinese kids especially girls want to make their careers in tennis.

When asked about that, Li Na said, “It’s really great to see the young girls from China being attracted towards tennis. It wasn’t the same in the past. People didn’t have this sort of interest in tennis earlier. Very few people used to watch this sport. But, the popularity has increased in the recent years.”

“I really feel proud that my success has motivated the kids to try and become a professional tennis player.”

“When I was a kid, I didn’t have any idea what was going on in tennis all over the world. My aim was just to become the champion at national level. The facilities were very poor at that time.”

“Now, things have changed. Quite a few coaching centres and academies have been opened.”

When asked about the tennis talent in China, Li said, “We have a lot of talented players at the junior level. I got the chance to meet a few of them a couple of months back and they are really full of talent. They are being groomed well under world class coaches and hopefully, they will start turning it on in professional circuit in a few years.”

Recently, Li has been included in the list of top 100 influential persons in the world by the Time magazine. The magazine also has Li’s photo on cover page. When asked about that, Li said, “It’s so nice of them that they included me in that list. It’s really an honour. I want to thank them for that.”

Li Movie Score: / 5

This was Li’s first match after losing the final match of the Australian Open against Victoria Azarenka.

After the match, Li said, “I just tried to stick to the basics and that worked. This was my first match in the last one and half months. It was nice to secure a straight set win in my comeback match.”

“I was overwhelmed to see so many fans turning up to cheer for me. Their support certainly helped me.”

When asked about the condition of her ankle which she had injured in the Australian Open final, Li said, “It’s alright now. I haven’t felt pain since the last two weeks and it is also not obstructing me from moving fluently.”

Li had made a great start to the ongoing season by winning the Shenzhen Open in front of her home crowd. She had defeated Klara Zakopalova of Czech Republic in the final of that event. That was the 7^th WTA title won by her.

Her performance was fine in the Apia International Sydney tennis tournament as well. She cruised into the final 4 of that tournament where she had to face the no. 4 player in the world Agnieszka Radwanska. She couldn’t get better of the Polish superstar and missed the opportunity of starting the season with two consecutive title victories.

She went one step further in the Australian Open and reached the finals there, but, again, she couldn’t hold her nerve in the big match and lost the final.

Li has played 17 matches in the season so far. She has won 15 out of them and has lost only two.

Li Na is a superstar in Asia. She is very popular in all the Asian countries and the people of Hong Kong were eagerly waiting for this exhibition match. They would have been hugely disappointed after hearing that Li would not participate in that match.

Li herself was also gutted that she had to withdraw her name from this exhibition match, which had been picked up by the Unibet bonus team, who had offered generous odds on a win for the chinese tennis superstar.

Li said, “I am really disappointed that I would not be playing in that match. The injury that I had discovered in the Australian Open final is still there and that’s why, I decided to keep myself out of the exhibition match.”

“I know that the people of Hong Kong love me a lot and I was really excited about playing there. But, unfortunately, I didn’t manage to recover in time.”

Li had fallen two times on the ground while facing Victoria Azarenka in the Australian Open final and on both the occasions; her ankle had hit the ground hard.

Because of this ankle injury, Li had withdrawn her name from the Qatar Open as well a few days ago.

One of the members of the organizing committee of that exhibition match, Jerry Soloman, told the reporters that it would be Radwanska who would replace Li Na.

Soloman said, “Unfortunately, Li has withdrawn her name from the match because of the injury and we all are disappointed because of that.”

“We invited Agnieszka Radwanska to replace Li and she agreed to feature in the exhibition match. She is also a top quality player and hopefully, the spectators will come in big numbers to see her in action.”

Li Video clip Rating: five / 5

This was the fifth match between these two players. Out of the previous four matches, Li had won three.

In the opening set, Li took the lead with a serve break in the third game. Li served out the fourth game and the score became 3-1 in her favour.

Li broke Cirstea’s service for the second time in the set in the fifth game to make the score 4-1.

Li was in full control at that stage. But, Cirstea made a comeback after that. The Romanian player broke Li’s service twice and won three out of the next four games to reduce the lead to 4-5.

Cirstea needed one more breakthrough to level the scores. But, she couldn’t do that. Li served out the 10^th game and won the opening set.

Li was in a destructive mood in the second set. She played with a lot of aggression. Quite a few wonderful forehand shots came off her racquet and she just took the match beyond the reach of the Romanian youngster.

Li broke Cirstea’s service thrice and won the first five games on the trot. She only had to hold her service in the sixth game to win the match, but, she failed in doing so. Her service was broken in the sixth game, but, that didn’t have any impact on the result of the match. Li broke Cirstea’s service for the fourth time in the set in the seventh game and won the match.

In the fourth round, Li Na will take on Julia Gorges of Germany.

Li Online video Rating: 5 / five

The participation of Li Na was almost certain as the tournament would be organized on her home soil. The Chinese superstar has been given the top seed in this tournament, while, Marion Bartoli has been given the second seed.

Confirming her participation in the tournament, Li Na said, “I am going to participate in the Shenzhen Gemdale Open. This is the first time that an elite tennis tournament will be organized in Shenzhen and I want to congratulate the people of Shenzhen for that. It will be a fantastic tournament and I am pretty excited about it. Hopefully, I would do well in front of the home crowd.”

“The organizers have worked very hard to get the rights to organize this tournament. They are still working hard to make this tournament a great success. Hopefully, they would succeed in their mission.”

“It’s great that I would start the new season by participating in a tournament on my home soil. If I manage to win this tournament, it would set the tone for the rest of the season.”

Marion Bartoli was also present in that press conference. She said, “Tennis is a popular game in China and it’s fantastic that such a tournament is going to be organized here. The people of Shenzhen will get to see some quality tennis.”

Apart from Li Na and Marion Bartoli, some other players who will participate in the Shenzhen Gemdale Open are Jelena Jankovic, Laura Robson, Hsieh Su-Wei, Peng Shuai and Klara Zakopalova.

Li Video Score: four / 5