Former Chinese tennis star Li Na says she is "excited" to make a return to the court and has been in training with daily nine kilometer runs to play at Wimbledon. Li is the only Chinese player to have lifted a Grand Slam, having won the French and Australian Opens before retiring in 2014.
She is now back at Wimbledon for the first time in five years and will partner her long-time friend Agnieszka Radwanska in the ladies invitation doubles.
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Li Na celebrates winning the 2011 French Open women's single title. /imago/Panoramic.
She told CGTN: "When I came back to do Wimbledon to do the Legends Doubles I was so excited because the last time I played Legends Doubles was four years ago in the Australian Open - so five years ago at Wimbledon.
"After five years come back, I think Wimbledon has changed a lot, it is better and I really miss it."
And Li has said that she has been preparing for the games. "I was running every day nine kilometers but playing tennis I didn’t play well, you can see I have a blister," she laughed.
Chinese tennis is improving position with five players now in the top 60 and Wu Yibing became the first Chinese man to win an ATP Tour trophy this year at the Dallas Open.
"When I was playing they always said we only see the Chinese women 'where are the male players?' but now you can see they have the two top 16 players on the tour and you can also see a lot of women doing well," continued Li.
"Right now they have a very good technique and a good chance, they just need a little more experience on the court and also off the court."
Despite her success playing tennis, Li said she only misses the "fight" on the court and feels like she is living her "dream" life right now.
"Only thing about tennis (I miss) is the fighting competition, because you are an athlete on the court, you are not just against an opponent, most of the time it is against yourself," she said.
"But I would like to say after retiring my life is a dream life, I have two children, I can be with them, I can spend more time with my family."
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