Li Na Had Intensive Training and is Now Ready for 2012

Written by: Staff on 5th January 2012

Li Na Had Intensive Training and is Now Ready for 2012

Li Na of China in action during the singles match against Jarmila Gajosova of Australia at the Hopman Cup, Perth, Australia, 05 January 2012. China defeated Australia 6-3, 6-2. EPA/TONY MCDONOUGH AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

After realizing her dream by winning Roland Garros, the 2011 season became a nightmare for Li Na. Distracted by the attention she received and now a prime target for anyone who wanted to claim a famous victory over a grand slam champion, she managed to claim just six wins in the second half of the year.

Now she’s back for a fresh start in 2012 and so far things are looking good, with victory in her opening two singles matches at the Hyundai Hopman Cup. Her off-season has been well spent, consisting of four weeks of training in Munich with no outside distractions.

“Yeah I mean after having winter training now I feel a little bit better (than) before (the) season,” she said after a straight sets victory over Anabel Medina Garrigues in Perth. “I know after French Open I didn’t do well … after that on the court I lose all the confidence and all the positive thing on court. But now I think I’m getting better and better.

“I think after winning two matches for beginning of the season, now I’m feeling I can use a lot of exercise on the court from what I’m doing in winter training. Not like before – training is training and I couldn’t use on the court. Now I think I try a lot on the court. I try to do different exercise to win the point.

“The training lasted four weeks. Like no photo-shooting, no interviews, just only training, very tough, like six hours a day for training. Two or three hours for tennis but most was for fitness because I want to keep healthy and stay for whole season.

“Before I always have knee injury and some back injury so I couldn’t finish whole season and I didn’t want to do that again. I know now I’m not young anymore – I didn’t have time to waste. I have to focus every tournament, every second, so that’s why I stay in Munich for long time just to keep body healthy and strong.”

Topics: Li Na