Li Na of China
Tennis player Li Na of China cries during a retirement ceremony at the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing September 30, 2014. Li, Asia's only grand slam singles champion, announced her retirement from tennis earlier this month, succumbing to the effect of long-term knee injuries. Reuters

Many followers of Chinese tennis sensation Li Na are still finding a hard time getting over the shock retirement of the tennis star just months after she captured her second Grand Slam title. At a ripe age of 32, Li Na was said to be peaking at the right time and is ready to compete with the top echelon in the sport, the main reason why many pundits are speculating that the former world number two will have a change of heart and return to the sport.

She was scheduled to appear in the World Tennis Association Singapore leg of the tournament but backed out by September citing an assortment of injuries that will make her participation a slim possibility. The first announcement was trumped by the next one - when she altogether said that she was leaving the tennis world behind, a decision she recently re-iteration, quashing all rumours of a u-turn.

"Of course I'm not going to come back to tennis. I'm already 32, at the beginning of (next) year I'm going to turn 33," she said ahead of the WTA Finals as reported by Business Standard. "I think I have to take care of my family right now because I've lost 32 years."

While the Chinese star admits that she will miss the challenge of playing professional tennis, she is looking to leaving a legacy behind by setting up a tennis academy in her mother nation. The only Chinese player to capture a Grand Slam trophy is looking to give back to children whom she hopes would play for "fun" and not out of obligation to do so or under command of their parents.

During her appearance in the WTA tour in Singapore, LI Na bared that it was her family who pushed her to take up tennis as a sport. With a number of fans queuing up for her autograph, she was hoping that she could entice youthful players to take up the sport and love it. A product of the institutionalized sports program of China, Li Na is hoping to give back to the country by investing in the sport that made her one of the highest paid stars of her country.