WIMBLEDON, England — Four years after playing the last match of her career at Wimbledon, Li Na has returned to the All England Club.
英国温布尔登——在温布尔登打完职业生涯最后一场比赛四年后,李娜回到了全英俱乐部。
Her life has had additions; she brought her two children, Alisa, 3, and Sapa, 1?.
她当妈妈了;她把3岁的阿莉萨(Alisa)和1岁半的萨帕(Sapa)一起带到了温布尔登。
But she is missing the kinesio tape that once constantly adorned her knee, and her trademark tan has faded to where one junior Chinese player said she initially did not recognize Li.
但是,曾经一直缠在膝盖上的肌能系贴布没了,标志性的黝黑皮肤也已经褪去,一位年轻的中国选手说,一开始她都没认出来是李娜。
What has not receded is Li’s power as a symbol of success in China. On the court, two Chinese players inspired by Li, a two-time Grand Slam champion, have reached the semifinals of the girls’ singles competition, and another Chinese player is in the boys’ semifinals. Off-court, Li is still earning between $15 to $20 million annually through endorsement and licensing deals.
在中国,李娜作为成功象征的影响力并未减弱。在赛场上,两名受到李娜这位两次大满贯冠军激励的中国选手,已经打入了青少年组女单半决赛;另外有一名中国选手进入了青少年组男单半决赛。在赛场之外,李娜通过代言和授权每年的收入仍然可以达到1500万到2000万美元。
“I think a lot of her sponsors were stressed out and scared when she retired — ‘How is this going to work?’” said Max Eisenbud, Li’s agent. “But I think now they secretly like it, because now they can have more time with her, and now she’s present in China.”
“我想,当时她退役的时候,许多赞助商压力不小,感到担心——‘这样能行吗?’”李娜的经纪人马克斯·艾森巴德(Max Eisenbud)说。“但我觉得现在他们在暗爽吧,因为现在他们有更多时间跟她合作了,而且现在她人在中国。”
He added that Li had “no competition” in China from other athletic superstars.
他还说,李娜在中国与其他的体育巨星“不存在竞争”。
Li, 36, has retained almost all her sponsors from during her playing career. Nike, whose Asian headquarters in Shanghai are named after her, has introduced a Li Na collection in China. Babolat is coming out with a racket named after her later this year. A menu is dedicated to her at the restaurant chain Element Fresh.
36岁的李娜留住了职业生涯中几乎所有的赞助商。耐克(Nike)在上海的亚洲总部以她的名字命名,还在中国市场推出了李娜系列。今年晚些时候,百宝力(Babolat)将推出以她命名的球拍。在连锁餐厅新元素(Element Fresh),有一个以其命名的菜单。
Li is bolstering her own business bona fides by studying for an M.B.A. at a university in Beijing, where she now lives.
为了在商业领域进一步发展,李娜目前在她居住的北京一所大学攻读MBA。
“I just want to improve myself a little bit, and to meet different people,” Li said. “Since I start tennis at 8 years old, until I retired, I only met sports people. I wanted to meet different people, and see different things.”
“我只是想提高一下自己,去认识不同的人,”李娜说。“我从8岁开始打球,直到退役,打交道的都是搞体育的。我想认识不同的人,看看不同的东西。”
Although she is the same age as Serena Williams, Li never considered returning to tour as a mother as Williams has.
虽然跟塞雷娜·威廉姆斯(Serena Williams)同年,但她从未考虑像后者那样,以母亲的身份回归球场。
“No chance,” she said. “For me, it’s very tough to find the balance between family and tennis. My daughter is 3, and I’ve only left her seven days in three years. I couldn’t imagine leaving her home. And if I brought her on tour, I couldn’t concentrate on the court, so it would be very tough.”
“没这个可能,”她说。“对我来说,找到家庭和网球之间的平衡非常难。我的女儿3岁,3年时间里我就离开过她7天。我无法想像把她留在家里。如果我带着她打巡回赛,就不能把精力集中在球场上,所以这对我来说非常难。”
Li, who has been married to her husband, Jiang Shan, for 12 years, said she believed that part of her influence has been making women see themselves more as individuals who can be successful on their own terms.
与丈夫姜山结婚12年的李娜说,她相信自己的部分影响力使得女性更多地认同,靠自己也能取得成功。
“I think now the Chinese women are more confident, from not only myself, but also other stories,” Li said. “They see that women can do it. Before they’d see that women would stay in the home and maybe have a nice job. But now, so many women don’t marry, because they think that means sharing with men, and they just want to be themselves. They want to have their own personality.”
“不仅是从我身上,也包括其他人的经历,我认为现在的中国女性变得更自信了,”李娜说。“她们看到女性也是可以成功的。过去,她们看到女性要留在家里,也许找一份好的工作。但现在,许多女性选择不结婚,因为那意味着要与男人分享,她们只想做自己。她们希望有自己的个性。”
Li also pointed to the swimmer Fu Yuanhui, whose expressiveness made her a social media sensation.
李娜还提到游泳运动员傅园慧,她的丰富表情令她在社交媒体上轰动一时。
Li’s own story will reach to a wider audience soon, because her autobiography, “My Life,” is being made into a movie, with production finishing this year.
李娜自己的故事很快将得到更广泛的受众,因为她的自传《独自上场》正被拍成电影,今年将完成制作。
Much of “My Life” is devoted to her thoughts on the systematic training methods used when she was a child. Li, who hopes to open her own academy, said that making sure children are enjoying the sport they play should be paramount.
《独自上场》中写了很多她对小时所接受的系统训练方式的想法。希望开办网球学校的李娜说,确保孩子们享受这项运动应该是最重要的。
“Especially now, so many athletes, you can see on their face that they don’t want to be here,” she said. “They should learn happiness, confidence and control.”
“特别是现在,很多运动员,你可以看出他们不想干这个,”她说。 “他们应该学会快乐、自信和控制。”
Li’s influence on Chinese youth has already been massive, with countless young players inspired to try tennis because of her.
李娜对中国年轻人的影响力已经很大,无数年轻球员因为她而受到鼓舞,想打网球。
Wang Xinyu — who has reached the girls’ semifinals along with the similarly named Wang Xiyu — was taught the game by her father, a tennis coach. Despite her family background in the sport, Wang, 16, said Li’s success was crucial to her reaching her potential.
王曦雨的网球是由当网球教练的父亲传授的,她在半决赛中的对手是和她名字很像的王欣瑜。尽管她有打网球的家庭背景,但16岁的王曦雨表示,李娜的成功对她来说非常重要,是她挖掘自身潜力的关键。
“It’s a motivation for us Chinese players to have somebody who has done that before, so you can have a dream,” Wang said.
“这对我们中国球员来说是一个刺激,之前已经有人做到了这种事,所以你也可以有梦想,”王曦雨说。
“Because before, we keep saying that maybe European players or American players are physically more strong, and mentally tough. We’re not sure that we can make it. But somebody made it, so now we have a goal.”
“因为以前我们一直觉得,欧美球员可能身体更强壮,精神更顽强。我们不确定我们也能做到。但是有人成功了,所以现在我们有了目标。”
Unlike Li, many of the most promising young Chinese players have trained with foreign coaches in their teenage years, which may accelerate their development and acclimatize them to the international nature of the sport.
和李娜不同的是,许多最有前途的中国年轻球员从青少年时期就开始接受外国教练的训练,这可能会加快他们的发展,并使他们适应这项运动的国际性质。
Wang Xinyu’s coach, Aleksandar Slovic, is Serbian; Zheng Qinwen, who reached the third round of the girls’ draw, is coached by the Argentine Carlos Rodriguez, who formerly coached Li and Justine Henin. Wu Yibing, who at the United States Open last year became the first boy from mainland China to win a Grand Slam junior title, recently began working with Sven Groeneveld, Maria Sharapova’s former coach from the Netherlands.
王曦雨的教练亚历山大·斯洛维奇(Aleksandar Slovic)是塞尔维亚人;打入青少年女子组第三轮的郑钦文的教练是曾经担任李娜和贾斯汀·海宁(Justine Henin)教练的阿根廷人卡洛斯·罗德里格兹(Carlos Rodriguez)。去年在美国公开赛上成为中国大陆第一个获得大满贯青少年男子组冠军头衔的吴易昺最近开始与玛丽亚·莎拉波娃(Maria Sharapova)的荷兰籍前教练斯文·格勒内费尔德(Sven Groeneveld)合作。
Zheng, 15, lit up at the mention of Li’s name, saying she remembered watching Li win the 2014 Australian Open with her friends.
15岁的郑钦文在提到李娜的名字时眼睛一亮,说她还记得当年和朋友们一起看李娜赢得2014年澳网公开赛冠军。
“She’s an amazing player for me,” she said. “She changed tennis in China. Most people started tennis because Li Na was so good.”
“我觉得她是一个了不起的球员,”她说。“她在中国改变了网球。很多人开始打网球都是因为李娜太棒了。”
Zheng’s parents wanted her to take up a sport because she was “really weak and fat,” she said. They first wanted her to play table tennis, but she fell for tennis.
她说,因为她“虚胖”,父母就希望她参加一项运动。他们一开始想让她打乒乓球,但她还是选择了网球。
“Tennis is really fun,” Zheng said. “Ping-Pong is so boring.”
“网球很有意思,”她说。“乒乓球很无聊。”
She seemed to be living out Li’s desire that Chinese children enjoy the sport they play.
李娜希望中国孩子都能享受他们所从事的运动,这个梦想似乎在她身上实现了。
“When you are young, and you see something you like, there is no reason,” Zheng said. “You just like. And I go for it.”
“年轻的时候,你喜欢上什么东西是没有理由的,”她说。“你就是喜欢。而且会为它拼命努力。”