(Ecns.cn)--Li Na made history on June 4 as the first Chinese tennis player to win a Grand Slam singles title by beating defending champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy 6-4, 7-6 (0) on the clay court.
With the victory, Li rose to a career-best No. 4 in the new WTA rankings, equaling the previous Asian record set by Japan's Kimiko Date-Krumm in the early 1990s.
Li had already drawn the world's attention earlier this year at the Australian Open as the first Chinese player to reach a Grand Slam final. On her way there, she ousted world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in the semi-finals.
Li's success has aroused discussions about China's traditional government sports system, a "parental control" management partially restricting players from taking charge of their own development.
Li broke away from the National Tennis Team in late 2008 under an experimental reform policy for tennis players dubbed "Fly Alone." She was then given the freedom to choose her own coach and schedule–and to keep more of her winnings: now 8-12% goes to the government, instead of 65%.
Her achievements have proven that the new policy is working and could serve as an example to other sports.
"Li Na's successes after 'flying alone' will help China reconsider its systems of training players to claim world champions," said Martina Navratilova, a famous player who won mixed doubles at nearly 50 years of age at an American Open.
"Li Na's victory should be attributed to the institutional reforms, and mostly her own efforts and her team. Not every "flying-alone" player is as strong as Li physically and mentally," added Zhu Xiaoming, CEO of Tido Sports Industry.
Li was born in 1982 in Wuhan, Hubei Province. Her father was an amateur badminton player. At 5, Li trained in badminton, but transferred to tennis one year later. She joined China's National Tennis Team in 1997 and turned professional in 1999.
At the end of 2002, Li suddenly left the national team to study journalism at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. She finally returned to the team in 2004 and rose to world's No. 33 just one year later.
However, according to governmental rules at the time, players had to turn over 65% of their earnings to the authorities, which, said Li, was unreasonable. She requested permission to "fly alone," but was rejected.
"I felt like living in the dark when I was on the national team," said Li.
In 2009, due to the reforms, Li Na, along with Zheng Jie, Yan Zi and Peng Shuai, was allowed to "fly alone." The move made them professional tennis players, responsible for their own training, matches and earnings.
"We took a lot of risks with the reform. When we let them fly, we didn't know if they would succeed. Now they are successful, which means our reform was correct," said Sun Jinfang, an official with the Chinese Tennis Association.
Li thanked Sun during her press conference after the French Open, saying,"If there was no reform, I could not achieve so much."
