Li Na (born 26 February 1982) is a
Chinese former professional
tennis player, who achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 2 on the
WTA Tour on 17 February 2014. Over the course of her career, Li won nine
WTA singles titles, including two
Grand Slam singles titles at the
2011 French Open and
2014 Australian Open. Li's rise to prominence came after those victories, which made her the first and only Grand Slam singles champion from Asia. Prior to this, she had already become the first player representing an Asian country to appear in a Grand Slam singles final, a milestone she achieved at the
2011 Australian Open. Li was also the runner-up at the
2013 Australian Open and
2013 WTA Tour Championships, a three-time quarterfinalist at
Wimbledon and a semifinalist at the
2008 Beijing Olympic Games and
2013 US Open. Among her other most notable accolades, she was the first Chinese player to win a WTA tour title at the
Guangzhou International Women's Open in 2004, the first to reach a Grand Slam singles quarterfinal at the
2006 Wimbledon Championships, and the first to break into the world's top 10. Her feats have sparked a major population growth of tennis players in Asia, earning her the reputation as the region's tennis pioneer and trailblazer.