2 time Major winner and trailblazer of Chinese tennis Li Na, has today announced here retirement from the sport. Li who earlier this season won her 2nd Grand Slam Crown at the Australian Open, hadn't played a match since losing in the 3rd of Wimbledon to Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova. This followed a devastating 3 set loss in the first round of Roland Garros, to French rising star Kristina Mladenovic. But the 2011 French Open Champion revealed shortly after SW19 that she was withdrawing from upcoming US Open series events in Montreal and Cincinnati as well as the last Grand Slam of the year, the US Open. Her reason was her persistent knee problems which have dogged most of her career and which have required 3 surgeries on her right knee and the 4th one which she had done in July, was on her left knee. Her knees had been troubling her ever since March of this year. For most of Li's career she had had worn a black leg brace to protect her brittle knees and it seems that the latest problems to affect them proved to much to overcome. In an open letter to the tennis community worldwide, Li explained that she tried all she could to get her knees back to 100% full fitness in time to play in her hometown event in Wuhan. The new Premier 5 event on the WTA Tour is due to start on Sunday, with Local hero Li being the obvious main star attraction. But her ailing knees have told her that it's now time to hang up your racquet and move onto the next phase of your life. Li leaves behind a burgeoning legacy in China, a country where Tennis has become hugely popular thanks to her exploits and which now has 10 tournaments compared to just 2 in 2008. Her greatest achievements are becoming Asia's 1st and so far only Grand Slam singles Winner and the highest ever ranked Asian player (man or woman) at No.2.

 

The WTA Tour Website gave a list of the top 10 facts about Li's epic and legendary career:

1. She was the first Chinese to win a WTA title.
On Sunday, October 3, 2004 - just a few weeks shy of exactly 10 years ago - Li won the inaugural Guangzhou International Women's Open to become the first Chinese to win a WTA title. Between 1995 and 1998 six Chinese players had reached WTA finals, but none of them could go a step further.

"I'm trying to keep a balance and not get too excited about winning today," Li, who was 22 at the time, said afterwards. "I was nervous out there at the beginning and eager to win for the crowd."

In the 10 years since, Zheng Jie, Yan Zi, Sun Tiantian and Zhang Shuai have all won WTA titles too.

2. She played in the first ever all-Chinese WTA final - and the second one too.
Only twice have two Chinese players met in the final of a WTA event, and Li was part of both, at Oeiras in 2006 (falling to Zheng) and on home soil in Shenzhen this year (beating Peng Shuai).

3. She was China's first - and so far only - Top 10 player.
Li broke the Top 10 for the first time on February 1, 2010, following a run to her first Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open. And it was a magical run too - after rallying from match point down to beat Agnes Szavay in the second round she took out Daniela Hantuchova, Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams in the next three rounds before falling to Serena Williams in two tie-breaks.

The closest another Chinese player has come to the Top 10 is No.14 - Peng's career-high.

4. She was the first player from Asia, male or female, to reach a Grand Slam final.
A year later, at the 2011 Australian Open, Li made it one step further and reached the final, saving match point to defeat Wozniacki in the semis before falling to Kim Clijsters in three tough sets.

Only Japan's Kei Nishikori has repeated the feat - he was a runner-up at the US Open this year.

5. She was the first and so far only player from Asia, male or female, to win a Grand Slam title.
At the 2011 French Open, Li took it to a whole new level, beating four Top 10 players in a row in the last four rounds - the last three in straight sets - to become Asia's first Grand Slam champion.

6. She was the best late bloomer in the Open Era.
By winning the French Open in 2011 at age 29 years, 3 months and 9 days, Li was the fifth-oldest first-time Grand Slam champion in the Open Era, after a 30-year-old Ann Jones and fellow 29-year-olds Francesca Schiavone, Jana Novotna and Kerry Melville-Reid. But while none of those four women ever won a second Grand Slam title, Li did - as a 31-year-old at the Australian Open this year.

7. She had the best start of anyone to the 2014 season.
Li won her first 13 matches of 2014, going 5-0 to win Shenzhen, 7-0 to win the Australian Open and then winning her opening match at Doha before falling to Petra Cetkovska. Not only was it the best start to 2014, but it's still the longest winning streak in 2014 - no one else has won more than 12 matches in a row this year, though Serena Williams goes into Wuhan having won 12 in a row...

8. She's the highest-ranked player from Asia, male or female, in tennis history.
Japan's Kimiko Date-Krumm held the previous record, going as high as No.4 in the 1990s, but Li equaled that after winning the French Open in 2011, surpassed it after reaching the final of the WTA Finals in 2013 (rising to No.3) and setting the new bar after Doha this year (rising to No.2).

9. She was one of the highest-earning players of all time.
Though she only broke the Top 10 for the first time four and a half years ago, Li is currently the 14th-highest-earning female tennis player of all time, with $16,709,074 in career prize money.  In Off-court earnings, Li is behind only Maria Sharapova.

10. She gave the best trophy speeches.
Li's speech after winning the Australian Open this year was particularly legendary - enjoy!