Li Na won over Australian tennis fans four years ago, and now the sporting world and its sponsors have fallen for China's charming champion

Li Na's long-awaited second Grand Slam victory cements her status as one of the world's best tennis players and will trigger another surge of interest in the sport in China. When Chris Evert, US tennis legend and 18-time Grand Slam champion, handed the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup to Li Na after she defeated Dominika Cibulkova, 7-6 (7-3), 6-0 to claim the Australian Open title on Jan 25, the tennis world applauded as one.

The victory came from her third final appearance in Melbourne in four years, made the 31-year-old the oldest women's champion at Melbourne in the Open era and was her second Grand Slam victory. But tennis fans and experts also praised her impact as a role model who will drive the game's popularity in China to a new level.

"Her victory marks a new breakthrough and a new historic milestone for Chinese tennis," said an official congratulatory statement issued by the General Administration of Sport of China. "It earns honor for her country and provides a perfect lunar New Year's present for all sports fans."

The topic of "Li Na winning the AO" became the hottest item on Sina Weibo, China's largest micro-blog platform, on the night of the final, with almost 3 million fans tweeting on the topic. This was four times the number on the subject of "how to spend my Spring Festival holidays".

The number of followers on Li's personal weibo account has soared to a record 22.5 million following her second major victory. With the Australian purse of $2.3 million (1.7 million euros), her career prize money has reached $15.7 million .

After achieving the two goals she set herself at the beginning of 2013, cracking the top three in the women's game and winning another major, Li is looking to bigger things.

Asked at the post-final media conference if it was realistic for her to win all four Grand Slam titles, Li, who turns 32 on Feb 26, said: "That would be the best. Of course, if I want to win another one or two, I have to go back to court working hard and even tougher than before. Otherwise, no chance."

Since winning the 2011 French Open final, which was watched by a Chinese record TV audience of 116 million, Li has been the face of women's tennis in the Asia-Pacific region.

Inspired by her success, tennis fever has been rolling across China. The Women's Tennis Association, the international organization that runs the professional circuit, will hold 10 tournaments in China this year, including one in Li's home city of Wuhan, while 60 percent of the organization's 70 million active followers on social media are from China.

"We are already seeing the great benefits of Li's outstanding successes, and this latest triumph will add to the great momentum for women's tennis in China," says Peter Johnston, WTA Asia Pacific managing director.

However, it has not always been smooth sailing for Li.

With off-court distractions and a loss of form, her career slumped after the French Open. She failed to claim a title for 18 months until Carlos Rodriguez, the former mentor of seven-time Grand Slam winner Justine Henin, became her coach in the summer of 2012.

Rodriguez's tough training regime and work on mental preparation helped Li to improve her serve and emotional management en route to back-to-back Australian Open finals, culminating in her second Grand Slam title.

"It's been a long, grinding journey for me," Li said. "No one but me knows how hard it has been."

Earning international headlines on the highest stage of the game means that Li has received a string of lucrative endorsements, which confirm that she is now China's most commercially valuable athlete.

To market their products, Chinese insurance company Taikang Life and German automaker Mercedes-Benz spent millions of dollars to be able to display their logos on the left and right sleeves of Li's Nike tennis shirt, which has been a one-logo area as sportswear sponsors normally exclude other brands from star players' match shirts.

The competition among sponsors to sign Li will become tougher after her Australian Open victory, says Li's agency, the International Management Group.

"We are too busy to handle all the requests from potential new sponsors," says Wang Wei, IMG marketing director of Greater China.

Wang says at least seven companies varying from the home appliance industry to finance are approaching Li's agent for endorsement but only two of them will be selected.

"We have to be cautious about how many sponsors and how many types of businesses she endorses," Wang says.

Li is managed by Max Eisenbud, IMG senior president and the same man who manages the world's richest sportswoman, Russian star Maria Sharapova. Li is now the world's second wealthiest female athlete, says Forbes magazine.

"Now, I have to thank my team. Max, my agent, for making me rich," Li joked during her victory speech in Melbourne.

Mark Dreyer, former Associted Press and ESPN reporter who founded the website, China Sports Insider, says Li's commercial value has yet to be fully discovered.

"When those three-year sponsorship contracts (signed in 2011) expire later this year, it will be very interesting to see who re-signs and for how much. But the returns on their investments have been huge."

Following in Li's footsteps, China's younger tennis players have set their eyes on getting onto the professional tour and managing their careers as freely as Li has.

After the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Chinese Tennis Association allowed its top four female players, including Li, to manage their own careers with personal crews outside the state-run system, where they used to train together and hand on big portions of their prize money.

"Her move to 'break free' from the state system was a bold one at the time but it has become the norm now in Chinese tennis," Dreyer says. "That will only inspire more players to do the same once they have reached a certain level."

Li's winning ways have even inspired her fellow Chinese professionals.

"Her success has been a great inspiration for us to follow her professional way," says Zhang Ze, China's world No 253 male player. "Hopefully, we can reach a new level on the men's side."

According to Chinese Tennis Association statistics, the number of people in China who regularly play tennis has reached 8 million and more than 10 professional tennis academies have started operating outside the state system.

The combination of Li's on-court success and charming personality has also benefited businesses Down Under.

According to Tennis Australia, tournament ticket sales to Chinese tour operators increased by 82 percent last year from 2012's total of 2,592, and the tournament's merchandising arm has reached out to 8,000 outlets in China. Chinese visitors also contributed heavily to the $239 million in tourism income in the state of Victoria, of which Melbourne is the capital.

"Li Na's personality shines through every time she takes to the court," says Daniel Metcalfe, Tennis Australia's Asia-Pacific manager. "She is also open and honest in all her media dealings and interviews, which fans really appreciate. She truly transcends the sport and appeals to fans across the world."

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn

Li Na after defeating Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia in their women's singles final match at the Australian Open. Jason Reed / Reuters

(China Daily European Weekly 01/31/2014 page29)