Before writing this story, I visited Li Na’s home, hoping to learn more about her upbringing from her and her mother. Before my visit, I also asked my college-age daughter to suggest a question she wanted to ask Li Na. Her biggest question was, if Li Na hadn’t known she would achieve what she has today and had the choice to do it all over again, would she have been willing to put in the same effort? I know it’s a difficult question, since Li Na was indeed coerced into this industry by others (primarily her father).
Perhaps because I’m also the father of a girl, the story that most moved me when reading Li Na’s autobiography, “On the Field Alone,” was the story of her and her father. It’s hard to imagine myself being so heartless as to drag my beloved four-year-old daughter from her warm bed into a cold winter morning. I also grew up in Wuhan and know the brutality of the weather there: winters can be so cold your breath turns to frost, and there’s no heating; summers are relentlessly hot, making the slightest movement a sweaty mess; and the autumn winds sweeping fallen leaves can be bone-chilling. In such conditions, for someone who persistently took his four-year-old daughter for a morning run, he might now be dubbed an “Eagle Dad” online. However, the autobiography, and the testimony from Li Na’s mother, demonstrate the close and tacit understanding between father and daughter. Her mother, not without envy, says, “Her father is very resourceful, and she just listens to him.”
I chose to begin this story with her morning run with her father. Perhaps years later, as she lay on the red clay of Roland Garros, she wouldn’t have had time to recall those early mornings. But after she holds the Grand Slam trophy, she’ll surely recall those early mornings, and she’ll surely want her father to see it. To me, this is a story of a dream come true: a daughter fulfilling her father’s dream, far surpassing anything he could have imagined before his death.
However, if we return to the starting point and put ourselves in their shoes at a crucial moment in their lives, would we, like Li Na’s father, pin our own unfulfilled dreams on them? Now a mother of two, Li Na says she wants her children to have as much independence as possible, allowing them to pursue their own dreams. I half-jokingly suggest that if her father had thought the same, there would be no Li Na today. Li Na agrees that raising children depends on individual needs.
Like the father of another tennis superstar, Andre Agassi, Li Na’s father nurtured his daughters early on, cultivating athletic talent. However, neither Agassi nor Li Na actually loved tennis as children. From an average person’s perspective, in a sense, Li Na had no childhood. At least by comparison, her childhood was filled with flaws. Growing up, she experienced many setbacks and even reached seemingly insurmountable lows. But because this story is for children, she earnestly hoped it would be a bright and optimistic one. Yes, I completely agree. Telling stories to children isn’t about deliberately obscuring the shadows of reality, but about finding a new perspective, one that reveals the interesting and hopeful side of life.
I’m incredibly fortunate to have Yu Rong illustrator this book. She transforms a biographical story, spanning a vast timeframe and challenging to handle, into a picture book with a clear narrative and striking visuals. From the cover, front endpapers, title page, inside pages, to the inner folds, back endpapers, and back cover, the book feels seamlessly composed. The small balls and circles throughout seem to symbolize pulsing energy, dreams, and the fulfillment of them. The seemingly casual insertion of real-life photos among the hand-drawn illustrations draws the reader back from the story to reality, and back through time to Li Na’s childhood, evoking a profound sense of life.
Yu Rong’s use of color is truly admirable. The overall tone of the book is remarkably sunny, and to some extent, she “beautifies” those childhood memories. But conversely, amidst the joy of success, the reward of extraordinary hard work, perhaps those darker tones in the memory truly fade. During the creative process, we repeatedly debated the colors of Li Na’s childhood playgrounds. The corresponding pages in the book show green or blue backgrounds, but back then, training was done outdoors on primitive mud and sand courts. The children had to draw the lines themselves during practice, and their knees often bruised… So, shouldn’t we restore the yellow-brown color to emphasize the harsh training conditions? The artist opted against this choice, ostensibly because it wasn’t aesthetically pleasing, but a deeper reason was that the book’s images depart from the traditional realistic narrative of nonfiction. Color primarily expresses mood and emotion, hoping to resonate with children today and allow them to experience the joy of tennis.
Perhaps the most vivid expression of this artistic feeling is the scene where young Li Na, resting at home after an injury, can’t help but miss the training ground and her friends. The pink on the left page draws the reader into the girl’s enchanting spiritual world. The straw she uses to drink ice water becomes a thread of thought, extending to the vibrant training ground on the right page. The enlarged yellow-green ball frame captures a unique perspective that perhaps only athletes like Li Na, who trained in a sports school from a young age, can deeply understand. Li Na has said that she belongs to the “only child” generation, where after school, her classmates generally went home, leaving her with little company. On the sports team, despite the grueling training, she was always surrounded by friends, and the bonds between teammates were often closer than those of siblings. This may be one of the reasons she has been able to persevere through years of training.
Many tennis fans often imagine “Sister Na” as a muscular, incredibly powerful athlete, a prerequisite for her successful ascent to the top. However, Yu Rong, a female artist, perfectly captures Li Na’s inherent feminine beauty through delicate colors and gentle lines. This unique blend of beauty is, in fact, a global trend today. Li Na has graced the cover of Time magazine twice, and the magazine’s guest commentator, former world number one and tennis legend Chris Evert, exclaimed, “When she smiles, everyone melts. She’s like a breath of fresh air. Her friendly demeanor on the court and her humorous post-match conversation puts a smile on everyone’s face.” Perhaps readers can sense this inner and outer beauty through the artist’s portrayal.
However, some readers may wonder if a love of beauty was truly the primary motivation that drew young Li Na into sports. Initially, this factor may indeed have played a role. As a child, Li Na had baby fat, and her father took her for morning jogs and badminton, a move that was certainly intentional, leading to her mother’s strong support. However, when she was four, her father even spared no expense to buy her a piano. Later, realizing that his daughter preferred badminton to piano practice, he quietly sold the piano. Therefore, this father wasn’t insistent on his daughter’s athletic pursuits from the outset; he simply loved her deeply and wanted her to become a successful person. When he realized his daughter’s athletic talent, his dream of becoming a champion was rekindled. Although he was just an ordinary clerk, he had also been a professional athlete. He understood that excelling in his sport could change his destiny and allow him to become a “better version of himself” through continuous self-improvement.
Looking back, Li Na’s transition to tennis was quite serendipitous. Back then, the sport was largely unknown in China. Tennis was once considered a “sport for the nobility” due to its high cost. It’s also a rather lonely sport, requiring players to face their opponents alone on the court, constantly confronting and conquering themselves to ultimately triumph. Traditionally, players have been expected to manage everything before and after matches themselves, from hiring coaches, daily training, injury treatment, and physical care to tournament management and commercial activities, all in order to adapt to the demands of year-round professional competition. “Becoming a better version of yourself” holds very real implications for tennis players.
Li Na was fortunate to grow up in China during its best period, with its economy booming and China gradually integrating with the world in all aspects. This gave her the opportunity to grow into a true international tennis star.
Initially, she didn’t take up tennis entirely voluntarily. At one point, she disliked it and even grew to resent the “tennis-is-all” lifestyle. Her father’s untimely death was a profound blow, and it also left her with a more practical challenge: repaying the family debt incurred by his medical treatment. At fourteen, Li Na began shouldering the responsibility of supporting her family through tennis, a moment of rapid growth. At twenty, she retired for the first time to attend university, attempting to return to a more normal life for nearly two years. Those years were invaluable for her growth, allowing her to view tennis from a different perspective and gain a deeper and more sober perspective on the sport and her personal destiny. She understood that tennis, like journalism, lawyers, and doctors, was a profession for which she was well suited.
In her tennis career, Li Na has achieved remarkable success, winning two Grand Slam titles and rising to second in the world rankings. In addition to reaping generous prize money from competitions, her participation in various business activities has also brought in more income.2014In the 2016 Forbes World’s Top 100 Athletes Income List, she ranked first.41Her personal achievements have also profoundly influenced the world of tennis. The myth that “Asians are not suitable for playing tennis” has been broken. In East Asia (especially China), more and more young people are choosing to participate in tennis.
In the interview at her home, Li Na said calmly, “I gradually came to realize that I didn’t hate tennis that much. Tennis has changed my life.”
Yes, a small yellow-green ball brought about such a wonderful and wonderful life! If her father knew about this, he would definitely say to her: “Nana, you did it!”
In fact, whether or not you realize your dream of becoming a champion is not that important, but through unremitting efforts, you can become a better version of yourself and achieve the best version of yourself — this is the common expectation of parents all over the world for their children.
Ajia …
Written on2019Year12moon
