Li Na: That year, I had to grow up

Text/Li Na

Sometimes I really want to go back in time and tell that helpless girl in the crowd: cheer up, everything will be fine. But sometimes I feel that it is not necessary. Those small hardships and obstacles turned out to be the ripening agent assigned to me by fate. They made me learn to be brave and responsible.

一

After my father passed away, my mother was even more confused than I was when I was young. My father's debts due to his illness were not settled, and funeral arrangements cost money. My mother was not sure what to do, so she decided to discuss everything with me.

I suddenly felt that I was very strong, strong enough to support this family and protect my mother. In order to pay off the debt she owed for treating my father, my mother rented out the house and moved back to her parents' home in Wuchang. Once she hesitated and asked me when the bonus for playing in the National Games would be paid out. Her salary alone was not enough to repay the debt.

I really hope I can play more games. The more games I play, the more prize money I get, and I can pay off my family’s debt earlier.

I was 15 years old that year.

In 1997, I won the first national championship in my life in the National Tennis League Finals in Qingdao, becoming the youngest adult national singles champion.

二

Shortly after joining the provincial team, I secured an opportunity for myself to go abroad for exchange. At that time, the provincial team notified me to go to Beijing to participate in youth training. Tennis teenagers who are considered to have a promising future gather here. This is an event held at the National Tennis Center, with Nike China as a sponsor. After careful selection, a total of 12 athletes, six men and six women, were selected to enter the Nike training camp.

The final winner got the opportunity to study at an American online school for 10 months. I was very lucky to win this opportunity.

The tennis school contacted by Nike is in Texas. There is only a direct flight from Shanghai to Los Angeles. I have to transfer in Los Angeles to reach my destination. At that time, I was applying for a student visa, and I needed a Form I-20 to pass customs. However, my guardian forgot to give me this form before I left the country. When I entered the country, the customs staff looked like they were facing an enemy and repeatedly questioned me about this. Zhang Biao’s whereabouts. I didn't speak a word of English at that time, so everyone just stared at each other in a stalemate. Finally, they found a translator who knew Chinese to communicate with me. I told him that I had never seen this table, but they didn't believe it and said it was impossible. They also asked me where I planned to go when I came to the United States and how long I would stay. I told them the name of the online school I was going to, and then they opened my two bags and checked them carefully.

My luggage is very simple, except for the necessary daily necessities, which are sportswear sponsored by Nike. The result of this negotiation was that they locked me in a small dark room and then contacted the online school I wanted to go to. I didn't know what they meant by locking me in the dark room. I only knew that the flight I was about to take was about to take off. I was terrified and didn't know what mistake I had made. There was no light in the room, so I sat alone in the dark, helpless, and shed a few tears. I have traveled abroad several times before to play in youth competitions, but I was accompanied by a team leader and translator. I have never encountered this situation. After staying in the dark room for about 20 minutes, the customs officers released me and contacted the people from the online school. They told me: "You can leave, but you have to ask someone from the school to help you go to the Immigration Bureau to apply for this form within two months."

At this time, the flight I was scheduled to take Already flown away. I don’t know where I got the courage from, so I started asking for help from people around me. Since I didn’t understand English, I looked for help from people with Asian faces. There was a very nice man who told me that the next flight to Texas is at 6 o'clock tomorrow morning and he could help me apply to change my ticket to that flight.

It was 4pm and I had to wait at the airport for 14 hours. I pushed a luggage trolley, which was full of luggage, and sat in front of the huge glass window in the departure hall, looking at the vast sky outside. It was getting dark when I saw a plane taking off from the runway. I recognized that it was a plane returning to China. At that moment, I very much wished that I was on that plane. It could take me back to China and fly home.

When I boarded the flight early the next morning and stumbled to Texas, the coach from the online school had been waiting for me for a long time.

三

Online schools are like a small United Nations, bringing together children from all over the world who speak various languages ??and have various skin colors. Here you may meet children who are only eight or nine years old but are already playing well, and you may also see professional players in their early 20s training for a few weeks after the season ends. The courses we learned in the morning were mainly language and mathematics. Children from China can cope with the mathematics courses here with little effort. Our main focus is basically on overcoming language barriers and playing friendly matches.

Later I saw a report saying: "The advanced training methods in the United States have significantly improved Li Na's skills." To be honest, the training plans are the same everywhere. The advantage of online schools is that there are more opportunities to play games, which allows players to accumulate rich practical experience.

There are many tennis schools in the United States, and friendly matches between them are very frequent. Basically, there is an intra-school match every two days, and a friendly match between tennis schools once a week. The results of the competition will also affect the ranking of the tennis school. Students in online schools are also ranked in their own schools. If you win the game today, you will add a few points, and your ranking may rise one level; if you lose tomorrow, your ranking will drop a few places. Boys and girls are ranked together, which is very challenging and interesting. I played 10 moons in the online school, and my ranking fluctuated between third and fourth.

The differences in language and Eastern and Western cultures have caused communication barriers among the team members. In addition, I have a quiet nature and am not very familiar with my classmates in the online school. Usually everyone is busy competing and studying, so we are not too lonely. When Christmas comes, all the alumni go home to reunite with their families. The huge campus suddenly becomes empty, with only the three of us Chinese left. In the cold winter, everyone fell silent in unison, and the feeling of loneliness was really indescribable. Although the streets outside the school are filled with sweet Christmas songs, it is not our holiday. When I really miss home, I write letters. At that time, I didn’t even have money to make phone calls, so writing letters was the most important way for me to relieve my loneliness.

After my father passed away, I gave my salary card to my mother, hoping to pay off the family’s debt as soon as possible so that my mother could live a better life. Sometimes when I play games, the organizer will give me some bonuses, which counts as my pocket money.

After I went abroad, my mother was worried that I was short of money. In every letter she sent me, she asked me if I still had money. I wrote back and told her that I was fine and not short of money.

What an ironic reality. We are both desperately poor, but we are both trying our best to assure each other: I am fine and I have money.

It is said that the experiences in one’s teenage years are most likely to affect a person, because that is the core period in which his or her outlook on life and values ??are formed. When I was a child, I was simple and happy. I could just tell my parents what I needed. After my father passed away, my world seemed to have changed color. Every time I recall the past events of my girlhood, I feel like they are gray, not as relaxed, beautiful, or romantic as other girls. At that time, I was stubborn, melancholy, and as hard as a rock. The memory of the cold and difficult girlhood will probably stay with me for the rest of my life. No matter how rich and relaxed I am later, the girl who worked hard to save money to pay off debts will always be entrenched in my heart and will never go away. She influenced me more deeply than I thought.