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!
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.
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.
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.
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. [video=youtube;elRjVhOXbmo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elRjVhOXbmo[/video]
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
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。
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.
'Rebel' Li now a role model 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
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.
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.'' TELEGRAPH Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/sport/tennis/sponsors-swoop-for-li-20110803-1iboh.html#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
. Lin Dan should have followed Li Na going independent years ago. It's great that Li Na has done it. For Lin Dan, it's too late now (I think). Let's hope to find more top Chinese sportspersons participating as independent players (as compared to be just a teammate in a Chinese Sports Association). .
I do hope in the near future, we can find some young badminton talents converting to tennis while still in their mid-teens and making a mark like Li Na.
Our Asian tennis queen Li Na just repeated her French Open victory against the same opponent this year. History repeats itself for her. She could well be the best paid woman professional tennis player in the world following her success last year as I would assume more giant corporations are clamoring for her, including more successful Chinese companies.
In order to properly gauge Li Na's capabilities on red clay this year (a year older), she has to get past the first week. However, my chips are stack on Serena and to a lesser extent Maria.
French Open: Nadal, Li through, Schiavone out Updated 04:53 AM Jun 03, 2012 PARIS - Last year's finalists Francesca Schiavone and Li Na headed in opposite directions at the French Open on Saturday when the Italian was knocked out in the third round and the Chinese fought her way through to the last 16 with a tough win. Schiavone, the Roland Garros winner in 2010 and runner-up to Li last year, was unlucky to run into battling American Varvara Lepchenko for the second time in a month. Lepchenko, who beat the world number 12 on Madrid's new blue clay four weeks ago, struck again, defeating Schiavone 3-6 6-3 8-6 in the midday sun on Court One. Seventh seed Li had to fight hard against world number 36 Christina McHale of the United States before winning 3-6 6-2 6-1 and setting up a fourth-round match against Kazakh qualifier Yaroslava Schedova. Rafa Nadal continued his serene progress towards a record seventh men's French title with another straight-sets win in the day's final match on Philippe Chatrier Court. The Spanish defending champion defeated good-humoured Argentine qualifier Eduardo Schwank 6-1 6-3 6-4 in two hours 16 minutes. Nadal, who celebrates his 26th birthday on Sunday, will play either another Argentine, 13th seed Juan Monaco, or Canada's 19th seed Milos Raonic in the last 16. HE WRITES 'SORRY!' IN CLAY While her rivals for the women's title toiled, second seed Maria Sharapova swept past Peng Shuai of China 6-2 6-1 and has now spent eight minutes less on court in three matches than Schiavone and Lepchenko did in their single encounter. On a hot day at Roland Garros, Russian Mikhail Youzhny melted hearts when he scrawled the word "SORRY!" in the clay with the toe of his shoe after winning only six points in the first eight games of a three-set thrashing by Spanish sixth seed David Ferrer. "I just wanted to say sorry to the fans because they came to see a beautiful match but I simply could not give them that," Youzhny told Russian reporters after the 6-0 6-2 6-2 defeat. MURRAY THROUGH Fourth seed Andy Murray, who came close to withdrawing from his second-round match with a back problem on Thursday, looked a new man when he easily beat Colombia's Santiago Giraldo 6-3 6-4 6-4 to reach the last 16. The Briton will now play 17th seed Richard Gasquet, who beat 34-year-old German Tommy Haas - a qualifier here - 6-7 6-3 6-0 6-0. Murray said he had felt better on Friday and had done some light practice."I woke up this morning again feeling better than I did, but that's because of the work my physio has done the last 48 hours and all the recovery work that we've done between the last match and now," he told a news conference. "So obviously with the rest and doing all the right things, I felt better." FIGHTING TO THE END Li, who last year became the first player from an Asian nation to win a grand-slam singles title, struggled with her serve at the start and blamed herself for being too passive. "In the first set I was always following what she did, feeling like she was the champion on the court," Li told a news conference. "She is a very dangerous player; I was happy I could win... because I had more experience." Czech fourth seed Petra Kvitova, the Wimbledon champion, had hoped to get a swift win on the Philippe Chatrier court after taking the first set against Nina Bratchikova in 28 minutes. The Russian upped her game however, and Kvitova needed a third set to win 6-2 4-6 6-1 and go through to a meeting with Lepchenko. Uzbekistan-born Lepchenko was delighted to reach the fourth round of a grand-slam event for the first time. "I was fighting all the way to the end, I was trying to stay with Francesca the whole time," she told a news conference. "She played amazing and it is her court and I knew that she was not going to give it away for free," added the left-hander, who has risen from 128 at the start of the year to 63 in the rankings. "I had to work really hard, and I did." Italian Schiavone said she had been happy overall with the way she played but added: "I had my chances, I simply did not take them." - REUTERS (Sorry, in my previous post I thought Li Na had won again. I now realized that the match that I watched on TV was a repeat of Li Na's victory over Schiavone last year, However, I hope she could repeat her fantastic performance again. )
China’s defending champion Li Na (30) crashed out of the French Open on Monday, losing 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 to Kazakh qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova in the fourth round and dashing Asia’s hopes of a second Grand Slam title. World No 7 Li and a superstar in her homeland, was attempting to be the first French Open women’s champion to successfully defend the title since Justine Henin in 2007. “I just lost one match, so don’t try to push me down,” she told journalists in a petulant post-match interview. I will take some days off to totally forget tennis, then try to come back next week,” she said. “I need some time to recover, I’m not a machine.” World number seven Li was attempting to be the first French Open women's champion to successfully defend the title since Justine Henin in 2007. Kazakh qualifier Yaroslava Shvedova is ranked 142 in the world. But after a confident start on Suzanne Lenglen court, the 30-year-old endured a spectacular meltdown in the second set and never recovered, notching 41 errors and ending up being broken seven times by her 24-year-old opponent. "I lost one match so don't try to put me down," Li, who hasn't won a title since her Paris victory, snapped at a tense post-match news conference. "This is tennis. I will try to find the reason why I lost."
