Asian superstar Li Na serves out tennis career
Li Na, a two-time Grand Slam winner and reigning champion of the Australian Open, announced Friday that she is retiring from tennis.
Television stations in Li's native China reported Thursday that she was planning to retire.
In an open letter, Li thanks fans and cites recurring injuries -- she's had three surgeries on her right knee and one on her left -- as the main reason she's quitting at 32.
"It took me several agonizing months to finally come to the decision that my chronic injuries will never again let me be the tennis player that I can be," Li wrote. "Walking away from the sport, effective immediately, is the right decision for me and my family."
Li was ranked as high as No. 2 in the world this February, but she admitted the toll of returning from injuries past and present was too much.
Li is credited with inspiring interest in the sport among millions of young people in Asia, which will host eight professional women's tournaments in 2014 - compared to just two five years ago.
She is also one of China biggest celebrities, with more than 21 million followers on the Twitter-like Weibo network.
"Most people in the tennis world know that my career has been marked by my troubled right knee. The black brace I wear over it when I step on the court has become my tennis birth mark. And while the brace completes my tennis look, the knee problems have at times overtaken my life.
"After four knee surgeries and hundreds of shots injected into my knee weekly to alleviate swelling and pain, my body is begging me to stop the pounding. My previous three surgeries were on my right knee. My most recent knee surgery took place this July and was on my left knee. After a few weeks of post-surgery recovery, I tried to go through all the necessary steps to get back on the court.
"While I've come back from surgery in the past, this time it felt different. One of my goals was to recover as fast as I could in order to be ready for the first WTA tournament in my hometown of Wuhan. As hard as I tried to get back to being 100%, my body kept telling me that, at 32, I will not be able to compete at the top level ever again. The sport is just too competitive, too good, to not be 100%."
Li, who won her first Grand Slam title at the French Open in 2011 -- becoming the first Asian to win a major singles tournament, won nine times on the WTA Tour. She also represented China at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, reaching the semifinals.