Li Na ( 李娜 )

[echo17]

i think that playing tennis definitely earn more $$ than badminton, but tennis is not an easy game to play. i dont mean badminton has low difficulty, but tennis-easily injured, face a lot of physically stronger player from all over the world... but however, i'm like so proud when an asian chinese could reach the top beating world class player. SUPERB!

[2cents]

She may only play badminton as a kid. Around 13? but she played tennis when she was 6. not sure which sport she spent more time on.

She looks stronger than most current China national team player.

you can check the wikipedia,

Li Na was deemed a badminton player when she was 6. Li Na's father Li Shengpeng (李盛鹏) was a badminton player who determined to train Li Na as a badminton player.

When Li was 6 years old, she became a badminton player (not a tennis player), but her coach kept telling her that she looked as if she were playing tennis when she was playing badminton. By the time she was 8, her coach asked her parents if she could switch to tennis, finally she did begin to play tennis at the age of 9, while kept playing badminton.

After her father died when she was 14, she completely switched to tennis.

“In badminton, they use a lot from the wrist,” Li said as she demonstrated the arm action. “But I use a lot from the shoulder.” That's the reason her coach told her and her parents that she's not suitable for badminton.

When Li was 8, the coach asked her parents —
“They said, ‘What’s tennis?’ ” Li said.

[AlanY]

i actually read somewhere that li na switched to tennis at 6. doesnt really matter, looks like that she made the right choice.

[2cents]

i actually read somewhere that li na switched to tennis at 6. doesnt really matter, looks like that she made the right choice.

please give your citation. Just curious. I think it's a well known facts that Li Na even didn't what was tennis until 8 years old. when she's 8 year old. It was the first time, her coach said:

"Li Na's physical body was not made for badminton, so her achievement in badminton's limited. Her shoulder was too wide, not agile enought to play badminton". Her coach suggested her tennis after she played badminton for 2 years.

Her father agreed to play tennis was just for better playing badminton. Li Na began to play tennis at age of 9, but badminton was still her dream. She complained at begining that she had not agreed to play tennis.

Li Na said "her father let her play tennis as an exercise (at 9) for better playing badminton".

After her father died when she's 14, Li Na concentrated only on tennis. Her body had been physically developed good for tennis and not good to badminton.

Her coach was right!

[2cents]

comparing the body of Li Na with best female players, you can easily tell that Li Na's shoulder is much much wider than Zhang Ning, XXF, Ye ZY, Wang YH, Wang SX, Wang Xin,... Li Na's back looks like bear's, full of muscle.

Li Na is not very tall, only 1.72m. Most female players taller than that, Zhang Ning, Xie Xingfang, Ye Zhaoying, Wang Yihan, Wang Ling,.., all tallter than Li Na. But badminton players have to be skinny, their body has to be agile to turn left, turn right, turn forward and backward suddenly. Li Na's body cannot make turns quickly. If she had played badminton as career, her badminton career would have ended long time ago before anyone noticing her.

[Qidong]

comparing the body of Li Na with best female players, you can easily tell that Li Na's shoulder is much much wider than Zhang Ning, XXF, Ye ZY, Wang YH, Wang SX, Wang Xin,... Li Na's back looks like bear's, full of muscle.

Li Na is not very tall, only 1.72m. Most female players taller than that, Zhang Ning, Xie Xingfang, Ye Zhaoying, Wang Yihan, Wang Ling,.., all tallter than Li Na. But badminton players have to be skinny, their body has to be agile to turn left, turn right, turn forward and backward suddenly. Li Na's body cannot make turns quickly. If she had played badminton as career, her badminton career would have ended long time ago before anyone noticing her.

Or is it possible that her should is wider because she played tennis instead of badminton?

[2cents]

Or is it possible that her should is wider because she played tennis instead of badminton?

you meant that's chicken 'n egg loop?

well when she's only 8 years ago, with no tennis experience, her coach already pointed out her shoulder was made to play tennis not badminton.

[Qidong]

Ooh. I didn't read your post #21. So her shoulder was already wide at age 8. Her coach really deserved a lot of credit.

[2cents]

Li Yu shares the same body type as Li Nan, the body type not fit for badminton. See how awkward Li Yu's movements and footworks.

[demolidor]

.
Yes, it shows that money cannot buy us everything.

Football (Soccer) in the USA was promoted extensively, with much money spent over the last few decades. USA did made an improvement in Soccer (increasing the number of fans/players/followers), but somehow USA just couldn't make Soccer as popular as American Football.

And here, if Li Na can make Tennis popular for China, then the Tennis National Association of China should be happy that they have done the right thing; that they have allowed Li Na to leave their association to go on to participate her own.
.

Well I guess that comes down to $$$ again . You can't earn much playing (asoc.) football in the US as a regular team member ...

Now as for Wimbledon ... oh wait I thought I stumbled into tennisforum

[demolidor]

Li Yu shares the same body type as Li Nan, the body type not fit for badminton. See how awkward Li Yu's movements and footworks.

Mia Audina .... ? I think she (Li Na) has the perfect bodytype for WD

[AlanY]

please give your citation. Just curious. I think it's a well known facts that Li Na even didn't what was tennis until 8 years old.

from yahoo.news, not sure how creditable/accuracy of the source though.
http://hk.news.yahoo.com/article/110605/4/op0h.html

啟蒙期——父親李盛鵬
李娜父親李盛鵬曾是羽毛球手。文革摧毁運動事業後，他把運動夢寄託在女兒身上。李娜5歲半開始練羽毛球，1 年後轉攻網球，李盛鵬風雨不改送她練波。 當時李娜父母月薪才100元人民幣，但每周末都以5元租場，讓10歲的李娜與較年長運動員對壘。1996年 李盛鵬病逝，他臨終前寫信給李娜教練夏溪瑤，希 望夏好好訓練女兒。亡父的願望，成了李娜的動力。

[jamesd20]

I am not sure we can generalise a body type as not being suitable for badminton based on a particular player, particularly in the case of Li Yu not a particularly good one (at pro level at least).

MS - BCL, Sony, KJ, CH
WS - Mia, XXF, Zhang Ning, Gong Zichao

Different body types can be equally successful. Peoples athletic ability & skill level makes more difference. Most WD player look pretty similar in body type to LN to me.

[Loh]

TODAY

04:46 AM Jun 07, 2011BEIJING - Once considered a rebel, Li Na's landmark French Open victory has sparked celebrations, with state media now equating her with the likes of basketball giant Yao Ming and Olympic champion hurdler Liu Xiang and urging other athletes to learn from her as they prepare for the London Olympics.

"The First Asian! Li Na is Crowned the empress of French tennis," declared Taiwan's China Times newspaper.

Li's victory over defending champion Francesca Schiavone on Saturday came at 11pm in Beijing on a holiday weekend but Chinese state television rebroadcast the match yesterday and it was on the front pages of most newspapers.

The People's Daily, the flagship paper of the ruling Communist Party, put a large colour photograph of Li kissing her trophy at the top of its front page under the headline "Li Na reaches the summit of the Grand Slam".

Li's career had blossomed since she pulled out of China's government-run sports training system in 2008. That will likely raise questions about the costly system, which has produced Olympic champions in gymnastics and track and field - along with other racket sports such as badminton and table tennis - but has a poor record in commercial sports such as tennis and golf.

Chinese sports officials publicly congratulated each other in an apparent effort to link the government to the victory, even though Li trains independently.

The Chinese Olympic Committee and other agencies expressed "heartfelt congratulations" in a joint letter to the government's Tennis Sports Management Centre, according to Xinhua News Agency.

"There is no doubt this will encourage and inspire Chinese athletes in other fields to undergo hard training, strengthen their confidence and make excellent achievements in the London 2012 Olympics," said the letter.

Elsewhere in Asia, the victory was front-page news in Japan and Hong Kong, though tennis has only a small regional following and celebratory sentiment might be dampened by unease at China's rising military might and a series of political strains with its neighbours.

In Japan, which Beijing sees as a rival for regional leadership, news media celebrated Li's victory as an Asian first. The giant Yomiuri newspaper ran a front-page photo of her with her trophy. "First from Asia," said the Asahi newspaper headline.

In Hong Kong, the match was overshadowed in news coverage by commemorations on Saturday of the anniversary of China's June 4, 1989, crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square.

In Taiwan, Li's victory was the top story in the newspaper United Daily News, under the headline, "In the French women's singles Li Na is crowned empress". AP

[Triptens]

Someone a while back said that in order for China to succeed in tennis, it must allow her players to train outside the mainland. Result? Li Na won, even at her advance age (tennis years); her break-away year must be when she was 25-26 years old (started training abroad with the likes of Zheng Jie et al., affectionately known as four queens of Chinese tennis). While table tennis and badminton can still be a cocooned entity in China, thereby success! Not all sports can benefit from the regimented closed door style of training anymore presumably.

[laonong]

Someone a while back said that in order for China to succeed in tennis, it must allow her players to train outside the mainland. Result? Li Na won, even at her advance age (tennis years); her break-away year must be when she was 25-26 years old (started training abroad with the likes of Zheng Jie et al., affectionately known as four queens of Chinese tennis). While table tennis and badminton can still be a cocooned entity in China, thereby success! Not all sports can benefit from the regimented closed door style of training anymore presumably.

I think tennis is different from Badminton and table tennis. China does not have good tennis coaches and tennis courts. While badminton and table tennis have the best coaches and enough courts. There are just much more popular than tennis. I believe 99% people in China never touched a tennis raquet.

[Loh]

Sponsors swoop for Li

Malcolm Moore, Shanghai
August 4, 2011

Li Na's earnings are second only to Maria Sharapova.
Photo: Getty Images



FRENCH Open champion Li Na is on course to become the richest woman in sport as companies fight to cash in on her popularity in China.

Li, 29, has played only four matches since her victory at Roland Garros in June. However, she has signed at least $US42 million ($A38.5 million) of sponsorship deals this year with the likes of Mercedes-Benz, Rolex and Haagen-Dazs, which believe she could be the key to the lucrative Chinese market.

Her agent, Max Eisenbud, said it was ''hard to set a price'' after Li became the first Chinese to win a grand slam tournament.

At present, Li's earnings are second only to Maria Sharapova, the Russian she beat in the semi-finals in Paris, but they are likely to swap positions if she can continue to triumph in major tournaments.

For many Chinese, Li is a maverick. Known as ''China's No. 1 sister'' since her victory, she has a tattoo, has dyed her hair, and has been known to shout at her fans.

''What a transformation!'' said Terry Rhoads, the former head of sports marketing at Nike who gave Li her first $US25,000 a year sponsorship deal in 1998.

''Two years ago, she could not buy a sponsor. Now she is the only person with a Nike deal who can wear patches from other sponsors on her clothes. They told Nike: if you blink, there are a host of Chinese sports brands ready to pay big money.''

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Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/sport/tenni...#ixzz1U3Ds48Us


TOP FEMALE SPORTS EARNERS 2009-10

1. Maria Sharapova (Tennis) 24, Russian, US$24.5 million
2. Serena Williams (Tennis) 29, American, US$20.2 million
3. Venus Williams (Tennis) 31, American, US$15.4 million
4. Danica Patrick (Motor racing) 29, American, US$12 million
5. Kim Yu Na (Figure skating) 20, South Korean, US$9.7 million

Source: Forbes