As the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club and Mercedes-Benz both celebrate their 125th anniversary this year, Mercedes-Benz is partnering with French Open winner Li Na as she becomes the first Chinese global ambassador for the brand.

The three-year partnership will also see Li become the official ambassador for the carmaker's Swing for the Stars junior tennis program, an initiative it co-founded with the China Tennis Association in 2008.

"Mercedes-Benz has a rich heritage supporting tennis and sports around the world, so our exciting partnership with Li Na is yet another step in furthering this cause. Her dedication, passion and drive to succeed in her career perfectly alignwith Mercedes-Benz's brand philosophy of 'The best or nothing'," said Bjrn Hauber, executive vice-president for sales and marketing at Mercedes-Benz (China) Ltd.

"We believe Li is a great role model and ideally suited to be our global brand ambassador."

As the first-ever Asian to win a Grand Slam singles title and seeded third at the Wimbledon Championships that begin today, Li said she is "happy for this cooperation with Mercedes-Benz and am really looking forward to my ambassadorial role".

"I hope that through our concerted efforts we will be able to spread the joy of tennis, as well as Mercedes-Benz's brand values of 'fascination, responsibility and perfection', and in so doing, encourage more people to take part in the sport," she said.

Sun Jinfang, vice-president of the China Tennis Association, noted the organization is "very grateful for the extraordinary support we have received from Mercedes-Benz in helping promote and develop tennis in China".

Signing Li as Mercedes-Benz's global brand ambassador is the automaker's latest move to cooperate with world-class athletes.

"Mercedes-Benz's support of the sports in China has been a long-term, comprehensive and strategic initiative," said Mao Jingbo, vice-president and head of marketing for Mercedes-Benz (China) Ltd.

"In our extensive history of sports marketing, we have long been associated with tennis. We support tennis, motorsports and golf in China, which form an integral part of our brand culture and enable all-round customer participation."