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Journalism of Courage
With a racket in her hand,Li Na holds the key to a burgeoning tennis boom in China.
The 29-year-old,trying to become the first Chinese player to win a Grand Slam singles title,will face defending champion Francesca Schiavone in the French Open final on Saturday. Tennis is something of an overlooked sport in China, the Australian Open runner-up said. So I hope that it will become more common in China and that more and more people will become fans.
A few months ago,Li became the first Chinese to even reach a Grand Slam final,before losing to Kim Clijsters. But in China,a country of 1.3 billion people,the sport is gaining more followers as the middle class grows. Li said she heard 40 million people watched her beat Maria Sharapova on Thursday in the semifinals.
Schiavone,the first Italian woman to win a major,went through a similar experience 12 months ago. And an increase in youth tennis followed. Last year when I won the French Open,the percentages of the people that sign (up) in the tennis club,the young,the kids,are much higher than before. So thats good, Schiavone said. Of course,we are not millions and millions like in China,because we are totally how many we are? Seventy million? So its big difference,but we are Italian. We have big hearts.
Li is 29,but any questions about her advanced age for a tennis player,that is come with some risk. Im not old, Li pouted when asked about the recent trend of older Grand Slam champions in the womens game. Why do you think Im old? I feel Im still young.
The 30-year-old Schiavone is older than Li,but is taking her second Grand Slam final in stride. I (will) go to take a walk I think this afternoon and then rest a little bit,get some physiotherapy, Schiavone said of her plans for her day off. Eating,enjoy with friends. Nothing special. I dont think now (about) Li Na. I will think tomorrow.
Sania-Vesnina end runners-up
Sania Mirza and her partner Elena Vesnina paid for their numerous unforced errors,losing the women’s doubles final 4-6,3-6 to unseeded Czech pair of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka. The seventh seed Indo-Russian pair lost in one hour and 21 minutes.
Vesnina struggled with her first serve and Sania’s feeble shots at the net only made things worse. Even the Czech players struggled in windy conditions but a strong show by Lucie turned out to be the difference between the two teams. Elena and Sania split euro 165000 as prize money while the winners took home euro 330,000.
