The 29-year-old's achievement goes beyond that. Suddenly, Li is China's biggest sports star, giving tennis an unbelievable boost and threatening to change the future of the game at the same time.
Reports suggest that 100 million Chinese viewers tuned in for her final at Roland Garros and that is sure to trigger a huge increase in the number of girls taking up tennis in China. The law of averages suggests there will far more Asian Grand Slam contenders in ten years' time.
Li might not have things her own way on the grass at Wimbledon over the next two weeks but her emergence has certainly given the fading women's game a timely shot in the arm.
Tom Oldfield
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