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Li Na Cheering Thread Vol. 4

282K views 5K replies 89 participants last post by  Meelis 
#1 ·

Since we passed 5000 posts in the previous one.

This thread is dedicated to Li Na and all her aliases
Super-Na (and her evil twin Mug-Na)
SereNa Li (and her awful serving sister ELiNa Dementieva)
and any others
 
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#1,244 ·
he opened a thread during the final, bu i don't remember what is it about :p
 
#1,245 ·
Actually this match reminded me that why I like Vika before. I dont like her playing style at all in 2012, but this match a little bit like Vika2011 is back... Though her opponent today is Na. And I sincerely think she is not that bad at SF taking the MTO...
 
#1,247 ·
Why Vika can practise her serve during MTO? I thought rule does not allow...
 
#1,248 ·
^ to me it's still the same vika 2012 to me, so i don't like her now at all
 
#1,251 ·
Carlo said he felt like Na is tired today, too many tournament before AO, he will be more picky next time
 
#1,275 ·
Carlo said he felt like Na is tired today, too many tournament before AO, he will be more picky next time
I don't know why I couldn't sleep. :eek:

By the way, Aga agreed with Carlos. :spit:

'It was a good match, but I'm a bit sad, because Li actually played better. For sure she was more deserving to win the title. From what I've seen, the injuries were a result of exhaustion. The player from China, just like me, played two tournaments before Australian Open. Spraining an ankle is a common sign of tiredness. It was apparent that she had some tough matches behind her.'
 
#1,252 ·
"It was actually pretty heavy at that time. There was two seconds there where everything was black and I couldn't see a thing," the 30-year-old Chinese told reporters. :awww:

"So when the doctor and the physio came out on to the court, I sat up, but it took a long time to fully come around.

"At the time I was really afraid ... I'm scared of bleeding.

"Also I could hear this sound ringing in my ears."

As her husband Jiang Shan bit his fingernails in the crowd, a doctor gave Li a concussion test, asking her to count how many fingers he was holding up.

Under the stern examination, Li could not help but see the lighter side of her position and she broke into a broad grin, raising a roar of approval from the stands.

"They were staring at me very seriously, and I started to think it was funny," said Li, Asia's first grand slam singles champion. That's why she was laughing. :spit: :eek:

"It was like being at a children's hospital where parents take their kids for checkups."

Although her mobility appeared restricted in certain points, and she declined to chase every baseline bullet fired down the lines, Li said the falls had not really affected her.

"So, I think today in (the) important games she was playing better than me, so that's why she can win the title."

"After the match was over, there was some sadness. But it was over, it was already a fact. What's the point of crying more?" she said. "Tears don't solve anything."
Our NaNa :yeah: Just take some time off to relax and recover and punch your personal punchbag-Shan. :angel:
 
#1,253 ·
I actually wonder what Carlos think. I mean I really like him being Na's coach. So I guess she will just play

Doha-Dubai-IW-Miami-Stuttgart-Rome-Madrid-French-Wimbledon-Montreal-Cincy-Tokyo-Beijing-YEC
 
#1,255 ·
she cried for about a minute when interviewed by cctv5 :shrug:
the bite about seeing black, I know this well, I had multiple concussions when playing football. but it was a matter of 20 seconds sometimes... glad she's ok now
 
#1,259 ·
http://www.theage.com.au/sport/tenni...125-2dcaz.html

Li Na winning the battle of hearts & minds
JAN. 25, 2013
Following Victoria Azarenka's controversial medical time-out on Thursday, it's likely Li Na will be the crowd favourite in their women's final, says chief tennis writer Linda Pearce.

THE technical improvement in Li Na's tennis has been with her serve and forehand; the bigger change in China's most famous sportswoman is a happy combination of heart, legs and mind. When Justine Henin's former mentor Carlos Rodriguez started working with the 2011 French Open champion in Cincinnati last August, he began to view up close what he had long noted from the opposition coach's chair.

Rodriguez had seen a supreme athlete, one of the best in the women's game. A powerful ball-striker who could manage rallies but not her emotions, whose feelings - unlike the more insular, controlled Henin - were always on public show. The first Asian player to win a grand slam singles title and former world No. 4 had failed to win another title or reach a grand slam quarter-final since her Roland Garros breakthrough.

Had she underachieved in her career, overall? ''No question about it, but I start to understand why,'' Rodriguez explained in a lengthy interview with Fairfax Media ahead of Saturday's Melbourne Park decider against top seed Victoria Azarenka. ''There is always a reason why a human being is not able to get the best from herself, and it's not a question of tennis.

Always smiling: Li Na has been in superb form. Photo: Getty Images

''Now, there is many questions that she has started to answer herself: why [does] she play tennis? why is [it] so important for her to be out there in the semi-finals? You have a pleasure, but when I saw her before, I don't see any sign of pleasure. Then why [do] you play? What satisfies you? And when you understand that, then you're able to really give the best of yourself.''

Li had several answers that satisfied the famously exacting Rodriguez, including the appeal of competition and the sense of self-worth and achievement that comes with success. ''The most important thing that I also help her to understand is that tennis today gives a very important sense to her life,'' he said. ''And I think she starts to understand how important for her that, as a person, she found something that allowed her to feel proud of herself, to feel fulfilled. For now, it's very important for her to understand that tennis give for her a sense of her life. Tomorrow, after her career, is going to be another thing.''

The latest adjustment to the Li entourage has resulted in a change, too, for her husband of seven years and long-time coach and sparring partner, Jiang Shan, in the interests of domestic harmony and his wife's professional advancement. The practice-court shouting matches are over, and Jiang claims to be happy in what is a different support role, one that includes hitting partner duties, mixing the energy drinks, visiting the racquet-stringer.

''I just hit with her and do some service,'' he smiles, almost giggles, when approached for an interview. Does he do a good job? ''I think so.'' He is happy to let Rodriguez do the coaching, and pleased with the results. ''Yeah, yeah, is everything better for her, is very important.

''I think Carlos have so many important things, new things for Li Na - [she] can hold herself [together] in important match, not up and down, up and down too much - can keep the same level all the match. Winter training in Beijing change her a lot, got better for the technique and the movement, and very important for her is the head - [she] can control herself.''

About tennis, Li listens more to Rodriguez than she did to her husband, which can only be a good thing, he laughs. So, who is in charge at home? ''Who is the boss? Her, her - no question about it!''

The 30-year-old's authority on the court, too, was breathtaking against second seed Maria Sharapova on Thursday, in what the world No. 6 described as probably the finest match she has played. Rodriguez still is not wholly satisfied with her serve, but has worked to bring more topspin to a rejigged forehand hit with a more open stance, and thus easier to execute on the run. Li's running forehands down the line were a feature of her semi-final domination.

''I hope that you see the match and you see how cool she was. I think that besides the technical things with the serve and the forehand she is more stable,'' Rodriguez noted. ''I can change a lot of things, but if you're not there with your state of mind - I say always to her 'do not fight against the environment or the things, just play, and try to enjoy yourself as best as you can'.

''And I think we work on that from the beginning, because I knew her before as a player and I know which kind of problems she has. The most important improvement today is how she manage the match in terms of emotions and mental[ly].''

In that regard, she is far different from Henin, who won seven grand slam titles from 12 finals, using her great variety and court craft to regularly outplay those bigger, stronger and more athletic. Li is five centimetres taller - ''her physical skills, I tell you, unbelievable,'' enthuses the coach - but has had to learn to play not only with force, but with more margin and control. Both his charges are ''very sensible'', but Li outwardly more demonstrative; Rodriguez impressing on her the need to deal with her anger internally, exhale, try to stay calm.

That, he believes, will play a big part in Li's longevity, for she may be 30, but is younger in tennis years. Her success came late, and after time away to study, pursue other things.

Rodriguez admits that he has to remind her that she is fresher and moves better than many far younger, so that the ageing issue does not become self-fulfilling. What the coach wants Li to do is what she managed so perfectly on Thursday. ''During the shots, she have to breathe and relax a little bit more, you don't feel the fatigue, because if you're like that [clenches his shoulders] after one hour you're exhausted.''

Li admits her body language was too revealing in the past, and the wisecracking media-room entertainer compares her new, cooler, self to a role-playing Hollywood actor. It has helped that there is less of the stress and excitement that comes with her trail-blazing status in her homeland, Li quipping that she is ''maybe not so interesting'' now that she owns one major title and is in a position to claim No. 2.

She unapologetically drags her entourage to Chinatown for dinner each night, insisting she is calmer than before the debut Australian Open final she lost in three sets to Kim Clijsters in 2011, and that there is also less pressure from within. ''Yeah. Right now, I mean, what I should worry about? I was working so hard in winter training. I think now is everything just [coming] back to me. So I come to the court, take the racquet, enjoy the tennis.''

Winning cures many ills, of course, and she has dropped four of her past five matches against Azarenka, but leads 2-0 in majors. She jokes that at least she has not lost to the Belarusian this year. With Rodriguez by her side since that instant success in Cincinnati last August, she is 26-7, and 14-1 in 2013, the coach insisting he inherited a puzzle that was almost complete.

But if he now sees more joy on the court, and a looser, more relaxed Li, then important, too, is what has gone from her game. ''What I don't see that made me really feel bad, is somebody suffering on court; many players sometimes they suffer out there and that is something I don't see any more on court from Li Na,'' he said.

''For me - not the fact that she win or not - that is what is important. She doing a great job. I very proud of her.''
 
#1,266 ·
Her good serves left her at the end of 1st set. :hug:
 
#1,268 ·
She didn't keep calm and step out at tha moment...
 
#1,269 ·
Li Na was asked in press: Could you feel the bulk of the stadium was behind you tonight?

Her answer: "Yeah, yeah. I can hear a lot of Chinese fans, yeah. Yeah, and also I can see them with the China national flag everywhere. I was, Oh, looks like China Open!"

:hysteric:
 
#1,298 ·
I am not watching mmk. :eek:

just checking some news.

I am really tired... I will go to bed in 22 mins. :p
 
#1,294 ·
It's good that AO is close to Chinese New Year. Na can spend some time with her family and friends. They will help her to forget this loss and just move on... just like last year. :oh:
 
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