Li Na Wins Australian Open—and the Internet

 

Li Na Wins Australian Open—and the Internet

Rolex was right, even if its congratulatory message to Li Na for winning the Australian Open was a bit premature.

The Chinese tennis sensation defeated Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova 7-6, 6-0 to claim her second Grand Slam title on Saturday, sending the Chinese Internet aflutter.

Ms. Li, who also won the 2011 French Open, shot to the top ranks of trending items on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo microblogging platform—where she’d repeatedly been throughout the tournament—with most users congratulating her and celebrating her success.

Sina Sports’ official Weibo account touted Ms. Li as the first Chinese—and Asian—champion in the 100-year history of the Australian Open.

Sun Qun, the editor-in-chief of Basketball, a paper run by the Guangzhou Daily, congratulated Ms. Li on his Weibo account.

“I always like people like that—never beaten and aspiring to win!  You can look at her from different perspectives, and have different assessments on her.  But whether you praise her or criticize her, you cant ignore a fact—she’s at the peak.

Li Na celebrates after winning the Australian Open.

Associated Press

Others commended the work ethic of the 31-year-old, who famously broke from China’s tightly controlled state-run sports system in 2008.

A Weibo user called Shuijin commented that “the slightest difference between the final winner and other top players lies in the perseverance of everyday training and good spirits.”

Meanwhile, Ms. Li’s own Weibo account was flooded with well wishes from fans all over the world.

“Too exceptional… you’re the pride of Chinese fans,” one wrote.

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“With Li Na’s second Grand Slam championship, she has successfully surpassed [former NBA star] Yao Ming and [Olympic hurdler] Liu Xiang…to become the No. 1 athlete of the great China,” another proclaimed.

For her part, the Wuhan native entertained the crowd in Melbourne with her post-match speech, which some in the Western world were dubbing “the best Australian Open victory speech ever,” spawning a #funniestspeechever hashtag on Twitter.

Ms. Li called out and thanked her agent “for making me rich,” and her husband, whom she thanked for fixing her drinks and fixing her racquets.

“Thanks a lot, you’re a nice guy,” she told him, to cheers and laughter from the crowd. “Also you’re so lucky to find me.”

–Brittany Hite and Yue Li