In what she describes as her “new life,” li Na is dealing with morning sickness, hoping for a baby girl and dreaming of becoming a housewife. The two-time Grand Slam champion says she will try not to tell her future child that she was once one of the world's best tennis players. Not that she regrets a moment of her tennis career. If she could go back, li wouldn't change a thing. Her life and career until now, she said, have been “perfect.”
A day after making a center-court appearance to publicly announce her pregnancy, the recently retired 32-year-old li reflected on how difficult it was to leave the sport but said that she had been thinking about retirement for a long time and now feels at peace with her decision. “If I have a next life, I will still choose tennis,” li told reporters on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Australian Open. “It was a very tough decision for me to make, to say good-bye to tennis. But I think now I just have to continue to do what I'm doing, to take care of our family.”
She returned to the Australian Open on Monday but not to defend her title, instead she came onto center court to announce she and her husband, Jiang Shan, were expecting their first child this summer. later, she posted a message on Facebook saying she chose to deliver the baby news on Rod laver Arena because of the special connection she felt with the Australian crowd. It was here she made her first breakthrough in 2011, becoming the first Asian to reach a Grand Slam final.
In characteristic good humor, li told reporters on Tuesday that there were upsides to retirement, which she announced in September in the wake of a fourth knee operation. “At least now I don't have to answer what goals I have for this year,” li said, laughing. “I feel more relaxed. No stressing anymore. Right now, I think I'm much happier.”
li has kept busy since her retirement — making plans to open her own tennis academy in China, where she is credited with single-handedly boosting interest in the sport of tennis. For now, the focus will be on family. She doesn't know if it's a boy or a girl but “I prefer (a) she,” li said. Asked if she plans to teach her child how to play tennis, she said only if she was asked.
“I try to don't tell them I was the tennis player,” she said in broken English and with a straight face. “It's pretty simple. I wish them happy and healthy, that's it.” “Tennis was my job, it's not their job you know. I think everyone has (their own) personality,” she said. “I think my dream is to be a housewife,” she added.