Still a labour of love for Li Na
Simple statistics don't tell the full story of the lady from Wuhan's battle at the Australian Open, or why she intends to keep going
Li Na is still a little a little hazy when it comes to exactly what was going on around centre court at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena on January 26.
As the temperatures sweltered through the 30s, Li's battle with world No 1 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the final of the Australian Open had tennis fans at the edge of their seats as it stretched across three tense sets.
History now records that Li went down fighting, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, but what the bare statistics won't tell future generations is how the Chinese world No 5 laboured through valiantly after twisting her ankle twice in the course of the match and after smashing her head into the hard court. during a bad fall
While Li seems to have taken the loss - and that fall - in her stride ("I was feeling like: How many years since you fell down on the court? What are you doing on the court, like a junior?" Li joked after the match had ended), what has lingered most in her memory is the reaction she received from the crowd.
"I really have no idea why they have liked me so much over these couple of years," says Li, 30. "Every time I go there it seems the same. There are the Chinese fans and this year there were even a lot of Western fans trying to communicate with me. But why it is I don't know."
While Azarenka's questionable time-out in the last set of her semi-final win over young American Sloane Stephens played its part in placing the Aussie crowd in Li's corner, there is little doubt that her demeanour throughout the event helped persuade tennis fans Down Under to take the lady from Wuhan into their hearts.
