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Tennis was Li Na’s only hope after the death of her father
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LI Na said her ground-breaking career can be traced back to the death of her father when she was 14, a pivotal moment which meant tennis success was her “only chance.”
Li said she had to grow up quickly when left to support her mother, a realization which shaped her life.
“I think I was a pretty normal girl in the way I grew up (but) what totally changed my life was when my father passed away,” she said.
It sowed the seeds of a career which yielded two grand slam singles titles, the first for an Asian player, and brought tennis to China’s masses.
The reigning Australian Open champion was speaking in her home city Wuhan, days after she tearfully called it quits over persistent knee injuries.
Li, 32, made special mention of her father in her retirement statement last week, saying: “You’ve remained the sunshine in my life and I am who I am because of you.”
Late in her career, it was another fatherly figure in the form of coach Carlos Rodriguez who would prove influential as he brought Li out of a slump to win the Australian Open in January. Under the Argentinian, Li became a different, more composed player — and less confrontational off the court.
“He said, “You are a good player, or a great champion,” Li said. “I was like, ‘It is the same. Why?’ And he said, ‘No, it is not the same. A champion has to be like everywhere a champion, not only on court.’”
Li’s family had struggled financially after her father, Li Shengpeng, died when she was taking her first steps on the tennis circuit. But with the determination that would mark her ascent to world No. 2, Li focused on tennis to navigate the family out of hardship.
“I was thinking, you are a pretty big girl, you have to take care of your mom,” she said.
“When father passed away I think that was when I would say: ‘The only chance is you have to be a good player.’”
Two years after her father’s death, Li joined the national team. “I never talked to my mom to say how (I) was feeling, even during the time I didn’t like tennis,” she said. “I used to tell her, ‘I love tennis. I want to continue.’”
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