Li Na isn't playing badly this year just not beating the top players.

Li Na's breakthrough was huge for women's tennis because finally an Asian woman won a grand slam singles title. I thought Kimiko Date was going to be the first Asian woman to win a slam back in the 1990s but she retired at a young age. Date has returned to the WTA but she's older and not as consistent.

Li Na deserves a lot of credit for her hard work, not giving up and winning the French Open. I think Li can win another

slam I honestly do she's got the game. Li has a decent serve, excellent groundstrokes, she moves well on the court.

She just seems to doubt herself sometimes especially against Clijsters. She choked her fourth round match against

Clijsters at the Australian Open. I was so disappointed when Li had the match point and she just hit the ball back to

Clijsters even though she had an open court. I was shocked and so disappointed when she lost that match.

Some people seem to think Li Na is having a poor 2012 but she's not. Li is actually had consistent results she's just not coming up with the big wins we know she is capable of.

Li Na has so much talent and yet it seems she sometimes doesn't believe in herself.

Li reached the finals of Sydney lost to Azarenka she also lost to Victoria in the quarterfinals of Madrid. Next, Li lost to Sharapova in the quarterfinals of Miami and she lost to Radwanska in the quarterfinals of Stuttgart.

It seems to me the problem Li is having is just playing her best consistently against the top players like last year. Li's got the game she just needs one big win to get her confidence back. She is playing decent tennis but she has so many points to defend in Paris.

I'm not surprised. Now that she's settled down from the post-slam slump that she went through, she's now back at the 8-15 level she found herself in for the year before her two great slam runs. It'll be interesting to see where she ends up after RG.

(Suddenly) She couldn't place her serves well or she started to push against those in-form defenders/top players when she started to lead in those big matches this year. :o

Li has impressed me this year.

li is just erratic! she can play spectacular tennis in a set then start spraying errors all over the court in the later set

but yes, her season so far isn't as bad as some people are saying

She´s not playing bad tennis at all. It´s just that it´s wierd she´s so consistent and beating everyone she should beat, then getting slaughtered against the topplayers. You just expect more from her. Losing to Clijsters tells the tale for Na this year, it´s just a year of not getting things together completely yet. 1 final and 5 quarterfinals. 1 big result could change around the whole year for her, the game is there.

The positive thing to take from this is that she´s getting better and better right before Paris and she´s got zero points to defend after Paris. She shouldn´t feel much pressure then. I just hope she can get a little more points here in Rome and do decent in paris to keep some of her points. Then she can start rebuilding after that.

If she keeps this up and avoids some big players early i think she can make a decent run at paris. Before she was a player that could bring her best level at the biggest tournaments, maybe this will reignite in Paris.

I don't know if I should be happy or worried that she at least makes it competitive with top players before unraveling. She had advantages and even won sets against Azarenka, Clijsters, and Radwanska this year. Her only really bad loss was against Sharapova in Miami (and both played like crap anyway) and maybe against Kerber, who is on fire this year.

She just needs to put it together mentally and stop squandering leads. She was destroying Azarenka and Radwanska on clay this year before going :weirdo: Easier said than done, admittedly.

Li Na can go deep this year at Wimbledon. Lisicki was a true wildcard who played one of the best matches of her life against Na that day.