Li Na was born on February 26, 1982, in Wuhan, Hubei, China. Her father Li Shengpeng (李盛鹏) was a professional badminton player and later worked as a sales rep for a Wuhan based company. He died from a rare cardiovascular disease when Li Na was 14.
At age six, Li Na started playing badminton, following her father's footsteps. Just before she turned eight, Li made the transition from badminton to tennis when she and her parents were convinced by coach Xia Xiyao of the Wuhan youth tennis club that this would be the right career move for her. Li joined China's National Tennis Team in 1997 and turned pro in 1999.
At the end of 2002, Li left the national tennis team to study part-time at Huazhong University of Science and Technology,
where she completed her bachelor's degree in journalism in 2009. The
Chinese media cited various reasons for this. Some reported that the
relationship between her and her teammate, future husband Jiang Shan
(姜山), was opposed by the national team's management, some reported that her coach Yu Liqiao (余丽桥) was too strict and demanding, while other reports claimed that her request for a personal coach did not go through.However, Li returned to the national team in 2004. Jiang Shan married Li and became her personal coach in 2006. Li quit the national team as well as the state-run sports system in 2008 under an experimental reform policy for tennis players. This change was called "Fly Alone" (单飞) by Chinese media. As a result Li had the freedom to pick her own coaching staff and she could keep more of her winnings. Only 8 to 12 percent of her winnings go to the government as opposed to 65 percent previously.
