Pioneering Chinese tennis star Li Na said yesterday she has “no regrets” about her decision to retire over persistent knee injuries, but wiped away tears as she acknowledged she thought long and hard about the decision.
The two-time grand slam winner was making her first public remarks since she announced her shock retirement via social media on Friday.
“I’m very satisfied with my tennis career,” the 32-year-old Li told a news conference at China’s National Tennis Centre, which hosts the China Open later this month.
“I feel this is the best time for me to retire. I don’t feel sorry or have any regrets about retiring. When I was making this decision, I asked myself, ‘If I retire, will I regret it?’”
“My heart told me I wouldn’t, because I’ve done my best,” she said.
The event was an emotional one both for Li and the nearly 200 journalists who attended.
At one point, a Chinese journalist raised his hand to ask a question, but then suddenly went silent before breaking down into tears.
Li responded with her characteristic wit. “Here, take this,” she said, holding out a tissue from her seat at the podium and holding back tears of her own.
Li’s announcement comes just seven months after she lifted the Australian Open title, one of her career highlights following her historic French Open win of 2011.
In postings on Facebook and Chinese social media on Friday, she wrote that “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”.
She ended a career that has brought her nine titles and introduced tennis to the masses in China, she maintained that she has “done no great thing”.
“I want to tell everyone – because everyone has his or her own dream – you must keep pursuing your dream,” she said.
The next Li Na may arrive “at any moment”, she added. “Just keep an eye out,” she said. “The next player will be even better than me.”
