Li Na

Li Na (born February 26, 1982) is a Chinese professional tennis player.

As of January 31, 2011, she is ranked as No. 7 in the world according to the Women's Tennis Association singles rankings, her career high. She has won four WTA and nineteen ITF titles. At the 2011 Australian Open, Li Na became China's first Grand Slam singles finalist player.

From the central China metropolis of Wuhan, Li was a badminton player when she was 6 years old but her coach kept noticing that she looked as if she were playing tennis. By the time she was 8, her coach asked her parents if she could switch to tennis, which she did at the age of 9.

Between 1999 and 2004, Li won 20 women's singles titles: 19 ITF events and one—the first ever won by a Chinese woman—on the WTA Tour. In January 2008, she won her second WTA Tour title after a drought of over three and a quarter years.

She is noted in her playing style for quick reflexes and athleticism around the court and fast groundstrokes which she scatters unpredictably to all corners of the playing surface.

Li also frequently enters doubles tournaments at events alongside singles, and has won two WTA doubles titles and 16 further ITF doubles events. Her early success in doubles came mostly with Li Ting; but more recently she has made a habit of forming temporary women's doubles partnerships with players with whom she has previously enjoyed a healthy rivalry through repeated head-to-head meetings in singles tournaments, notably Liu Nan-Nan, Nicole Pratt, Yan Zi, Jelena Janković, and Peng Shuai.

Her career has been plagued by injuries that have interrupted her from playing for lengthy periods, and often preventing her from being highly ranked. She suffered a two-year hiatus from competition in her early 20s, lost several months at the height of the 2005 season to an ankle injury, and lost the second half of 2007 to a rib injury.

Li started off the year in the 2011 Hong Kong Tennis Classic for the first time, as the leader of Asia Pacific Team. She lost her first match against the world number 1 Caroline Wozniacki but in the match for third place she won her second match against Venus Williams the 7-time Gram Slam winner.

She then participated in 2011 Medibank International Sydney as the #8 seed, making fast work with Australian wildcard Anastasia Rodionova 6–1, 6–2 and winning a tough three-set match against Virginie Razzano 6–4, 1–6, 6–4 in the first two rounds. In the quarterfinals she met two time Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova and came through with a 3–6, 7–6(4), 6–0 win. She defeated surprise qualifier Bojana Jovanovski in the semifinals 7–6(5), 6–3 to advance to her eighth WTA final.

Li faced World #3 Kim Clijsters in the final, and despite trailing 5-0 in the first set, Li would go on to defeat Clijsters 7-6, 6-3.

Li was the 9th seed at the 2011 Australian Open, where she reached her first Grand Slam singles final. On her way there, she ousted the No. 8 seed Victoria Azarenka in straight sets, 6-3 6-3. She then defeated world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in the semi-finals to reach her first Grand Slam final after saving a match point in the second set, 3–6 7–5 6–3. She became the first Chinese player to reach a Grand Slam singles final, facing No. 3 seed Kim Clijsters (whom she defeated at the Medibank International). Although Li claimed the first set, Clijsters was able to rally back and claim the championship, winning 3-6,6-3,6-3. Despite the loss, Li's ranking rose to a career high of World #7. Had she won, she would've ranked as World #5.

Beijing 2008
Li Na Happiness
Li Na Prepare for Shooting
Li Na Performance
Amazing Shoot