China's Li Na has been sponsored by Nike and the sportswear company was quick to celebrate the Roland Garros victory of their tennis partner. Nike featured Li's photo in their Paris store and organized an event with the Asia's first Grand Slam singles champion giving autographs, posing for the pictures with fans and talking to the press.

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Now that China’s Li Na has won Roland Garros I decided to use the opportunity to make a language point about the proper usage of Chinese names, as I have noticed a lot of confusion around.

The most important thing is to understand that the first part of a Chinese name is the family name and the second part is the given name, i.e. the order is reverse compared to the Western cultures. Therefore, Li is the family name, Na is the given name.

There is another peculiarity: if you meet the Chinese tennis star in the street, it would be perfectly natural to call her "Li Na".

Personal names are used when referring to adult friends or to children, although, unlike in the west, referring to somebody by their full name (including surname) is common even among friends, especially if the person's full name is only two syllables. – Wikipedia

A correct way of formal addressing would be Ms. Li. Read more »

China’s Li Na yesterday became the first player from an Asian nation to win a Grand Slam singles title and it means a lot not only to China but to the entire tennis world as Li’s success is expected to fuel the sport's rapid growth in the most populous country.

In the above video you can see the final moments of the 2011 Roland Garros championship match in which Li defeated Italy's holder Francesca Schiavone 6-4 7-6(0).

And here's Li's post-match interview. Read more »

China's Li Na has just made a tennis revolution – the 29-year-old defeated last year's winner Francesca Schiavone in the final of Roland Garros and the sport not so popular in China is now expected to bloom, or at least to start blooming, and when you have a population of so many people in question than it's a really big deal. As for the very championship match, Li was solid, had precise shots and was in charge more or less throughout the match, which can be described as one calm Grand Slam final, without much fuss and excessively expressed emotions.

The world No.7 Li had a straightforward win in the first set. In 39 minutes the Chinese sixth seed faced no break points, took Schiavone's serve in the fifth game and simply marched on to take the set 6-4. The second set Li continued in the similar fashion, breaking Schiavone's serve in the very beginning and at 3-1 Li had a great opportunity to bring the match too close to an end, but she netted a clear shot and the world No.5 Schiavone slowly managed to get back into the match when she leveled at 4-4. Then both players held their serves until the tiebreak in which Li started shining again and actually won it without losing a point! Final score: 6-4 7-6(0). Read more »

Here we go again, two players pretty much no one was talking about in the lead-up to the French Open are now in the final of the claycourt Grand Slam – Francesca Schiavone and Li Na. Schiavone was mentioned here and there, mostly as last year's surprise champion, while Li, we can safely say, was totally neglected. Anyway, Schiavone beat Marion Bartoli 6-3 6-3 in today's semifinal (yes, Bartoli reached the final four, which just adds to the fact that predictions are useless) and Li defeated Maria Sharapova, the most favored player to win the tournament.

Before anything I'd like to repeat that Schiavone and Li are playing the final of the French Open and Caroline Wozniacki, Kim Clijsters, Vera Zvonareva, Victoria Azarenka, Samantha Stosur, Jelena Jankovic, Petra Kvitova, Julia Goerges are all gone. Many of them long gone!

The world No.5 Schiavone made a big statement by reaching the final again. Even if the Italian doesn't win the remaining match, she has proved that her last year's success wasn't just an incidence, and even though people will always argue and mention the circumstances or whatever, I think the 30-year-old Schiavone has a solid proof that she can rock. Her quarterfinal against Anastasia Pavlyuchekova this week was one of best showcases for Schiavone's physical and mental capabilities.

Every now and then the seventh-ranked Li becomes "the first Chinese player who ________". In January she played the Australian Open final as the first Chinese Grand Slam finalist in women's singles, and now, just a day after becoming the first Chinese to reach the singles semifinals at Roland Garros, she's become the first Chinese to play the finals, by ousting three-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova 6-4 7-5. Li made twice more winners than the Russian (24 to 12), five less unforced errors (23 to 28), seven double faults less (3 to 10), and hit one ace to her opponent's zero.

Schiavone and Li have a 2-2 career head-to-head record. Their last and only match on clay was at last year's Roland Garros and Schiavone won 6-4 6-2 in the third round. Although, as unpredictable as women's tennis is, this statistical point doesn't mean much. (photos: chascow, Stephane Martinache)