The 2007 Australia Open started this week. By the end of the first week, Li Na is the only Asian tennis player remaining; she made into the fourth round and will play Martina Hingis tommorow (Jan 21), grand-slam winner and the comeback success story last year.
Li Na is a good player trying to fight her way in the ranking. She ranks 16 now, her personal career best. With the performance in Australia Open, her ranking is going to improve further. Recently Li Na has been playing great tennis. Last week she came back from one set down to oust Dementieva, the Russian player ranking no.8. After that, she had a tight 3-set match against Kim Clijsters, the US-Open champion. Today she overwhelmed world n0-10 Safina, Marat Safin's kid sister in two easy sets. Since Li Na is not a top ten player yet, her matches in the Australia Open were not broadcast in U.S at all. So I am not really familiar with her game at all but I do follow tennis news and reports regularly (almost obsessively) and know that she has a strong forehand and move well. However, with the advance in Internet technology, I was able to watch the last few games between Li Na and Safina. It was almost hard to believe that Safina appeared to be the one scrambling to save the balls! I almost felt sad for her, as she could not keep up with the great-angle shots Li pulled off on her.
I believe one of the reasons that Li Na is playing so well has a lot to do with CTA's recent decision to have Li's husband Jiang Shan as her new coach. It was Jiang who persuaded Li to resume playing after Li Na abruptly retired from tennis a few years ago, following Li's dissatisfaction with CTA. Li said Jiang knew how to comfort her and she feels calm and can win games when he is present. This may sound exaggerated a little, but it does indicate Li counted on Jiang's presence a lot. So far this decision proved wise. Li Na has been very consistent in her game, which used to trouble her and ruin her chances to go further in a tournament.
Tomorrow she is going to play Hingis. She stands a good chance to blow past Hingis as her recent matches showed she overcame mental hurdles in tight matches and has started to believe in herself. In addition, Hingis is not good at handling power players like Li Na. But Hingis plays smart and her drop shots and sense of the game is superb. As long as Li Na plays her own game and keep her UEs down, the match is winnable. Maybe I will get to see her live on TV, as Hingis's matches are usually played on TV. Anyway, good luck, Li Na.
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