Li Na Photo: VCG

It is nine years this week since Li Na cemented her place as the first lady of Asian tennis. 

Li won the 2011 French Open in Paris and in doing so became the first Asian player - male or female - to win a singles Grand Slam event. 

The win propelled the 29-year-old into the sporting stratosphere, attracting sponsorship to match the rarefied air in which she moved.

In 2014, Li would prove that Paris in 2011 was no fluke. She won the Australian Open in Melbourne, finally going one better than she had when she reached her first final at that tournament three years earlier. 

That same year she made the Forbes Top 100 list for highest-paid athletes. She earned $24 million over the year from global sponsors such as racquet brand Babolat, sportswear giant Nike, luxury watch brand Rolex, tech giant Samsung and the German automaker Mercedes. Li was also paid handsomely by Chinese brands for her domestic pull. 

The Grand Slam wins confirmed that Li was a star but there has been much evidence before and since. Here is a timeline of the Chinese tennis star's remarkable career. 

October 2004 - Wins Guangzhou Open

Li announced herself to the world by becoming the first Chinese player to win a WTA title when she won the Guanghzou Open on home soil. Li beat Martina Suchá of Slovakia in the final and the feat for the 22-year-old was all the more remarkable as she had come through qualifying. 

2005 - First WTA season

The Wuhan native joined the WTA tour for her first full season in 2005 and impressed on her debut on the circuit. She reached as high as No.33 on the rankings and was a semifinalist at tournaments in Morocco (Rabat) and Australia (Hobart, Tasmania). 

June 2006 - Wimbledon quarterfinals

Li showed that she was destined for something more when she became the first Chinese player to ever reach the quarterfinals of Wimbledon - she was the first Chinese to reach any Grand Slam singles quarters. The 24-year-old may have fallen to Kim Clijsters but she proved her mettle in beating No.10 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova on the way to the last eight.

October 2008 - Beating Serena

Li was disappointed to miss out on a medal at the 2008 Beijing olympics, where she made it to the bronze medal match against No.9 seed Vera Zvonareva despite being unseeded herself. Li beat Venus Williams in Beijing and then would later take care of her sister, World No.1 Serena, at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart in October.

January 2010 - Australian Open semis

It was the first Slam of the 2010 season that set about the world taking real notice of Li. She performed at Rod Laver Arena by beating Venus Williams and Caroline Wozniacki to reach the singles semis, where she would fall to Serena Williams. That took her into the top 10 for the first time in her career.

January 2011 - Australian Open final

Li went one closer in Melbourne the following year and put millions of hearts in mouths back home as she took the first set of Belgium's Kim Clijsters in her first Slam final. Clijsters came back but Li had proved she could get close to the biggest trophies in the game. 

June 2011 - French Open champion

That intent came to realization in the very next slam in Paris. On June 4, 2011, Li edged out the holder, Italy's Francesca Schiavone, to make history - Asia finally had its first Grand Slam winner.

January 2013

Li had a solid if unspectacular follow-up season in 2012 but ­started 2013 with menace. She reached the final in Melbourne once more, knocking Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwanska out along the way, before losing to Victoria Azarenka.

2013 - World No.3

In the final tournaments of the year, Li refound her form from early in the season. She reached the semis at the US Open and the finals at the WTA Tour Championships, only to come up against Serena Williams as she began to play her own best tennis. Li's achievements would not be diminished, however, as she reached a then career high world No.3. Not bad for a player who had considered retirement in the summer. 

January 2014 - Australian Open  champion

Li's Melbourne demons were finally vanquished when she finally lifted the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup to become Australian Open champion by beating Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets. The season would see Li reach world No.2 but it was to be her final season on the WTA Tour as she retired because of a knee injury.

May 2015 - Film star

Li revealed that she was working with Hong Kong film director Peter Chan on a film of her life. Filming took place in Melbourne in 2019 and the film is set for a release at some point this year.  The pair worked together on a short - Be Yourself - which featured Li talking about her late father. That was released in August, 2019.

July 2019 - International Tennis Hall of Fame



The first Asian Grand Slam winner was entered into the ITHOF in New York last summer. "It had been an amazing career, one that had seen Li Na help propel an entire nation's tennis fate in a major way," they say on their website. "Thanks largely to Li Na, China had become a major tennis power. But it was also very much a personal journey, one marked by Li Na's distinct mix of dedication and skill, wit and warmth."

November 2019 - Viva La Romance

Li and husband Jiang Shan made their reality television debut with the show that has been described as "a show that films female celebrities' travel experiences with husbands while being interviewed about marital life and relationship issues." The couple featured in Season 3 which aired in November and including Li coaching tennis in Turkey. This followed on from a Tencent documentary, That's Me, in October. 

2020 Wuhan

Li, one of the city's most famous sports stars, donated to the COVID-19 fight in the city via her charitable foundation. A 3 million yuan ($421,000) gift was praised by netizens.