The first person in Asia! Li Na officially enters the International Tennis Hall of Fame
In 2011, Li Na won the French Open Championship
In the player era, she is not only an iconic figure in Chinese sports, but also a synonym for Asian tennis.
She is the first Asian player to reach the Grand Slam singles final;
She is the first Asian player to qualify for the year-end finals;
She is the first Asian player to rank among the top 3 in the world in singles;
She is the first Asian player to win a Grand Slam singles championship...
Just today, she ushered in a new milestone, becoming the first Asian player to be selected into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
She is Li Na.
On January 21 this year, the International Tennis Hall of Fame officially announced that Li Na, Pierce and Kafelnikov have confirmed that they will join the International Tennis Hall of Fame this year.
The International Tennis Hall of Fame has been established for 65 years. As the player’s career continues to create new records, this time Li Na has rewritten history.
As an epoch-making superstar in Chinese tennis, Li Na's role and contribution in the development of this sport in China are inestimable.
In more than ten years of professional career, Li Na has won a total of 9 WTA singles titles, including 2 heavy Grand Slam titles. In 2011, Li Na, who won the French Open, became the first Grand Slam singles champion in Asia; in 2014, Li Na was again in the Australian Open. It won the championship, and the world ranking reached No. 2 at the peak of his career.
(Li Na won the 2014 Australian Open Women's Singles Championship.)
In this land that was not originally crazy for tennis, it was Li Na's unremitting efforts to win the honor that gradually ignited our passion for the sport, and she knocked on the door of Chinese tennis to the world.
The silence of Chinese tennis in the previous few years began when Li Na retired. Someone always asks when the next "Li Na" will appear. But it is precisely because she can meet but cannot ask for it, it shows her extraordinary and great.
(Li Na won the Lawrence Institute Special Achievement Award in 2015.)
In the year when Li Na officially entered the Tennis Hall of Fame, the Chinese golden flowers finally broke out into a small universe again:
At the Australian Open at the beginning of the year, Zhang Shuai's partner Stosur won the women's doubles championship, ending the 5-year Grand Slam championship drought in Chinese tennis;
In the French Open in the year, Duan Yingying/Zheng Saisai won the women's doubles runner-up. The Chinese mainland team returned to the Grand Slam final stage after 13 years;
At Wimbledon that just ended, Xu Yifan made China Jinhua appear in the women's doubles final of the Grand Slam for the third time in a row, and Zhang Shuai and Wang Qiang reached the third round of women's singles. This is the first time after 5 years of Chinese tennis. Once again, two players were promoted to the top 32 singles at the same time, the last time before Li Na retired.
(Li Na wins the Australian Open.)
Looking back in the future, 2019 is very likely to be seen as a turning point for China's tennis voyage. At this time, she was elected to the Hall of Fame as the first person in Asia, and Li Na added another piece of firewood to the growing popularity of Chinese tennis.
Written by Sicily
Phone/Whatsapp: 0086 15770844317
Email: sicily@siboasi.com.cn
