“Sports Replay” with Li Na

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During an exclusive interview earlier in December, two-time Grand Slam champion Li Na reviewed the 2017 season.

As she commented the WTA tour, “Currently is very hard for women players to dominate like Steffi Graf or Serena Williams. Now all the women players have a chance to win their maiden or second Grand Slam title because the competition is so tight.”

In fact, no one dominated the WTA tour this year; there were four different winners of Grand Slams, five players reached the singles world No.1 during the season, and Venus Williams played the Grand Slam singles final again. Her first time to reach the Grand Slam singles final was twenty years ago.

The 2017 season is also special to Chinese players: Peng Shuai won her second WTA singles title in Nanchang, Zhang Shuai also got her second title in Guangzhou, Wu Yibing won both junior singles and doubles titles in US Open, and he is the first-ever Chinese male to win both singles and doubles titles in four Grand Slams.

Wu Yibing won the junior single's title in US Open in 2017. /VCG Photo

Meanwhile, 16-year-old Wang Xinyu won a wildcard for 2018 Australian Open’s adults singles main draw in Australian Open Asia-Pacific Wildcard Playoff. She will be the youngest Chinese player to play in four Grand Slams adults main draw so far.

As Li said, the players who achieved successful results are all the more impressive due to the quality of competition. And for all employees working in tennis in China, their greatest reward will be seeing a new rising star from China.

Li Na’s edition will air on Dec. 31 CGTN Sports Scene’s year-end special program, “Sports Replay”. For more details, tune in to CGTN’s Sports Scene at 15:30-16:00 on Dec. 30-31 and join us to replay your 2017 sporting year.