Li Na has said that she is glad that her success in tennis has inspired the young girls in China to be a professional tennis player.
China hasn’t produced too many great tennis players over the years and that’s why, the young kids in China were not that much attracted towards this sport in the past. But, Li Na’s success in professional circuit has changed that scenario completely. Now, the Chinese kids especially girls want to make their careers in tennis.
When asked about that, Li Na said, “It’s really great to see the young girls from China being attracted towards tennis. It wasn’t the same in the past. People didn’t have this sort of interest in tennis earlier. Very few people used to watch this sport. But, the popularity has increased in the recent years.”
“I really feel proud that my success has motivated the kids to try and become a professional tennis player.”
“When I was a kid, I didn’t have any idea what was going on in tennis all over the world. My aim was just to become the champion at national level. The facilities were very poor at that time.”
“Now, things have changed. Quite a few coaching centres and academies have been opened.”
When asked about the tennis talent in China, Li said, “We have a lot of talented players at the junior level. I got the chance to meet a few of them a couple of months back and they are really full of talent. They are being groomed well under world class coaches and hopefully, they will start turning it on in professional circuit in a few years.”
Recently, Li has been included in the list of top 100 influential persons in the world by the Time magazine. The magazine also has Li’s photo on cover page. When asked about that, Li said, “It’s so nice of them that they included me in that list. It’s really an honour. I want to thank them for that.”