Li Na to battle Serena again for top award
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ACE tennis star Li Na wants to be remembered as “crazy, tough and brave” as she bids to become the first Chinese female Laureus award winner.
She will be vying for the sports highest honor with the likes of world No. 1 Serena Williams; world and Olympic shot put champion Valerie Adams of New Zealand; Norwegian skier Marit Bjorgen; Slovenian skier Tina Maze and Ethiopian runner Genzebe Dibaba who broke three world records in two weeks last year.
“After I retired, I thought I don’t have to fight her anymore,” Li said of Serena. “But this is one more time. I have played against her many times and only beat her once. I wish that number was higher.”
Li, who won the Australian Open in 2014 and reached a career-best ranking of world No. 2, was forced to retire at the age of 32 due to injuries. She became the first Chinese player — and the only one from Asia — to win a grand slam after her success at the French Open in 2011.
“Tennis started to grow in 2004 in China when Li Ting and Sun Tiantian won the Olympic doubles gold medal,” said the Hunan Province native who is keen to set up a tennis academy in China. “People started to give attention to women’s tennis after that, especially these last couple of years when we were doing well.
“When I start the tennis academy, 50 percent of my time will be spent on the academy, and the other 50 for my baby,” Li Na, who is pregnant, said.
The No. 1 female player from China wants to be remembered as “crazy, tough and brave.”
“I think I was a little bit rebellious. Because when I was trying to reach my goal, I would never give up. Some people might may thought I’m crazy.”
China will be hosting the Laureus World Sports Awards at the Shanghai Grand Theater on April 15 for the first time. An honor for Li Na will be the perfect icing on the cake.
Among others bidding for the award are this year’s Ballon d’Or winner and World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal; Britain’s two-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton; Serbia’s top-ranked tennis star Novak Djokovic; world No. 1 golfer Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland; French pole vault world record holder Renaud Lavillenie and Spanish motorcyclist and MotoGP champion Marc Marquez.
“I think 2014 was definitely one of the best, it was just an exceptional year,” said Hamilton, who along with his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg won all but three races on the 2014 calendar.
“I’ve never won the big award at Laureus and obviously seen the greats that have. So, you know, I’d be massively privileged if I was amongst those,” the 30-year-old told laureus.com. Hamilton previously won the Laureus Breakthrough of the Year Award in 2008.
Mercedes F1 team was also nominated for the team of the year. Others vying for it are European Ryder Cup golf team; German men’s football team; European club champion Real Madrid (Spain); San Antonio Spurs basketball team (United States) and the Swiss Davis Cup tennis team.
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