HELLO China.It is the only appropriate response a temp- orarily exiled Glaswegian could give to the extraordinary events on Court Philippe Chatrier at Roland Garros yesterday afternoon.
Li Na became the first Asian woman to win a singles event in a Grand Slam tournament. Her French Open final victory over defending champion Francesca Schiavone was almost routine. Nothing else was.
The Chinese player won 6-4, 7-6 (7-0) in one hour 48 minutes and only threatened to wilt when she was broken at 4-3 in the second set. But the significance of yesterday’s events extends past a mediocre final. Her homeland has a population of more than one billion and both the men’s and women’s tours have been courting the country in recent years.
Li, who reached the final of the Australian Open in January, losing to Kim Clijsters, has put tennis at the forefront of a huge burgeoning market.
Perversely, it was the final that many in Paris did not want. France’s Marion Bartoli was knocked out by Schiavone in one semi-final and Li defeated Maria Sharapova in the other.
Yesterday’s match was dubbed the The Fire v The Ice, with the feisty Schiavone playing the former role. In truth, the Italian was overpowered in the early stages and never gained a foothold in the match. Li’s power and assurance only deserted her briefly in the second set when the realisation that she was on the brink of a Grand Slam victory unnerved her, allowing Schiavone to break back.
However, the decisive tie-break told the story of the match with a merciless precision. Li won all seven points before falling to the ground in celebration.
With Li at 29 and Schiavone at 30, this was the oldest Grand Slam final since Wimbledon in 1998 when Jana Novotna defeated Nathalie Tauziat. It was played at a tempo, however, that made no concessions to age.
Schiavone’s game is based on both a variety of shot and an ability to cover the court with her darting sprints. Li, powerful and alert, moved well, too, complementing her strong service game with devastating shots off both sides.
Li has progressed smoothly up the world rankings. At No 7 coming into Roland Garros, she will almost certainly enter the top five tomorrow. Further improvement is not beyond her. Her physique, strength and serve should all be powerful weapons at Wimbledon.
Last night, though, she was entitled to concentrate only on the achievement of Paris. Li, who gave up tennis for two years in 2002 to study journalism, said she would describe her victory in print as “a dream come true”.
As the media corps struggled to put a number on the Chinese watching the match on television, with estimates ranging extravagantly from 40 million to 400 million, Li revealed that any viewer figure would be short of at least one native. Her mum. “She is too nervous to watch,” said the champion.
Li, though, said her victory would have a huge effect on Chinese tennis. But, more pertinently, it will galvanise the player. She said her experience in Melbourne had helped her in the difficult moments of yesterday’s final and she looked forward to Wimbledon with quiet confidence.
Li will not return home in triumph just yet. She heads now to Eastbourne to tune up on the grass surface before advancing on south London. “I will go back home after Wimbledon,” she said. “If I don’t do well in Wimbledon, maybe people forget me already. These are tough times, you know.”
Li is a tough competitor and employer, too. Her husband, Jiang Shan, paid the price for her defeat in Melbourne, being sacked as her coach. He is now restricted to hitting duties while Michael Mortensen of Denmark does the coaching.
“I just wanted a change,” said Li of a move that would certainly have altered the temperature in the player’s household. “I want to be even better, so that’s why after Melbourne I changed my team a little bit.”
Schiavone was typically gracious in defeat, downplaying a controversial over-rule by the umpire that went against her and praising her opponent’s improved mobility on clay.
However, she was more cautious over attempts to portray Li as a potential No 1. “It is open, but to be No 1 you have really to win many, many matches. Not just one tournament, one Grand Slam,” she said.