Happy 44th Birthday to the beautiful Li Na!

It feels like Chinese tennis legend Li Na's age has always been fixed around 30, yet actually, this ex-pro athlete born on February 26, 1982, has just turned 44, having covered almost half the road to fifty.

As the "gateway" for many professional players and tennis enthusiasts, Li Na left a deep impression during those years. In an era when smartphones were far less common, we refreshed scores on keypad phones, anxiously awaiting match results while praying for Sister Na's victory.

Li Na, who reached a career-high world ranking of No. 2, grew up in a sports family. Her grandfather was a primary school PE teacher in Wuhan. At just over five years old, she was sent to a badminton class, but due to less flexible wrists, on her coach's advice, she switched to tennis and began learning under her启蒙 coach Xia Xiyao.

In 1996, the 14-year-old Li Na joined the Hubei provincial team. The following year, she won the national tennis finals championship and, sponsored by Nike, traveled to the United States for training.

Between 1999 and 2001, the young Li Na achieved success on the professional circuit. She frequently won titles on the ITF tour and began securing victories at Grand Slam events. During this time, she also delivered outstanding performances for China in international multi-sport games.

In 2002, Li Na suddenly announced her retirement, not returning to the court until 2004. The story of this period is detailed in her autobiography. Inspired by the idea that "tennis can be played for oneself" upon her comeback, she quickly won the WTA250 Guangzhou singles title that year—the first WTA Tour singles championship in Chinese tennis history.

After that, Li Na's progress skyrocketed with continuous breakthroughs. In 2005, her world ranking set a new record for Chinese female singles players (No. 35); in 2006, she became the first Chinese woman to reach the US Open singles round of 16; in 2007, her ranking peaked at No. 16; in 2008, she reached the Olympic semifinals, setting the then-best Olympic result for Chinese women's tennis...

What followed was the well-known "fly solo" phase, during which Li Na won two Grand Slam singles titles at the French Open and Australian Open, setting a new benchmark for all of Asia. In 2014, plagued by severe knee injuries, she had to retire, thus concluding a professional career spanning over a decade.

"She was the pioneer who opened the door of tennis for hundreds of millions of people in China and Asia." That was the评价 given by then-WTA Chairman Stacey Allaster. After retiring, Li Na has stayed busy promoting tennis, participating in exhibition matches, and even serving as tournament director—she has never truly left the sport she loves.

Time flies, and it has been over a decade since Li Na retired. So, what is your most vivid memory of her?(Source: Tennis Home Author: Barbie)