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Rising star Li hopes to shine in Dubai

The brightest new star on the WTA tour is set to bring her exciting brand of tennis to the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships this month.

Li Na is the best player to date to emerge from China, but despite being around for several years injury has previously kept her from reaching her full potential.

Now, though, she’s in good health and she has taken her rightful place at the top of the game, reaching a career-high seven in the world after she advanced all the way to the final of the Australian Open before falling to Kim Clijsters after winning the opening set.

“After the match, back to the locker room I made a joke – tennis should only play one set,” said Li later, displaying the sense of humour that is certain to also brighten up her after-match press conferences in Dubai.

“Li has played here many times before and we are delighted to welcome her back to one of her favourite tournaments,” said Colm McLoughlin, managing director of tournament owners and organisers Dubai Duty Free. “The last few weeks and months have been the most rewarding of her career so far, and we look forward to seeing if she can repeat her recent success at the Australian Open when she joins a world-class field in Dubai that is second to none.”

At 28, she is the second oldest woman to play in an Australian Open final, trailing only the iconic Chris Evert who was 33 when she lost to Steffi Graf in 1988. And she has reached new heights in her career after taking on her husband as her full-time coach despite causing more mirth when she said he had kept her awake with his snoring before her semi-final and he was now to be banished to the bathroom.

“I met him when I was 12, when we played in the same team in our home, Wuhan,” she said of her husband, Jiang Shan. “He can understand what I do on the court and he’s also a sports guy, so he knows if I was nervous on the court, and why I was shouting or something like that, and more importantly he can understand. He has taught me to calm down, to think about what I do. In fact, we have a good team, where there is a lot of positivity. Every day, after my massage, my physio, Alex, tells me that my body’s been good, that I should trust myself and have more confidence on the court, so I think they’re doing a great job,” she said.

Despite her success, tennis was not her original choice. It was decided for her. “Before I was playing badminton from when I was six years old,” she said. “After I played two years, the badminton coach just told me, ‘You are not so good at playing badminton; it looks like you should play tennis”

However, Li is already looking forward to her days after tennis. “You know, my dream after I retire is to be a housewife. Maybe I will become a mum also. So my dream life is to be there for my husband when he comes back after work and have food on the table.”

Before that happens she has the challenge of trying to add the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships trophy to the one she claimed last month in Sydney.

Standing in her way will be opposition such as world number one Caroline Wozniacki, top Russian and world number three Vera Zvonareva, French Open winner Francesca Schiavone and Australian number one Samantha Stosur.