Do we like them?

Do we like Li Na?

Our score: 7 out of 10. Nothing harmful found and some real good work, but the record I could read is thin on her views, so I won't go higher.

Li Na grew up in Wuhan and became the first Chinese player to win a Grand Slam singles final, at the 2011 French Open. That made her a national hero back home. She retired in 2014 and these days rarely plays, though she stays close to the sport.

Her relationship with the home crowd got spiky. In 2012, after beating a fellow Chinese player at Indian Wells, she said she was playing for herself, not for her country. It caused a major uproar in Chinese media and online, with reactions from praise to fierce anger. A commentator defended her, arguing it was an individual match and noting she supports charities.

The other blot is a bad day at the office. After losing at the 2013 French Open she snapped at the press with “Do I need to explain?” Chinese media and Weibo users, including some of her own fans, cried foul, and a Xinhua commentary said her temper reflected a lack of professionalism toward the media. That's a tennis star having a grump, not a pattern of hurting anyone.

On the harm check, I went looking for anything on LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants, health or the planet, and found nothing from her either way. There are no harmful statements, no campaigning and no dodgy collaborators in what I read. That's a clean result, but honestly a quiet one: she isn't a loud public commentator.

Nothing new on her lately. In late 2024 she was in Hong Kong for the opening of a Laureus Sport for Good facility, and said she would keep contributing to tennis in another capacity. She also said she rarely plays now, a decade after retiring.

The real stuff: in 2019 she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and in her speech she promised to do all she could to inspire and help young and upcoming players. Her involvement with the Laureus facility fits that promise. I couldn't open the reports on her reported COVID-19 donations, so I'm leaving those out.