<p>While 28-year-old Li, regarded as a rare rebel in tightly controlled Chinese sporting scene, became “national hero” after scoring brilliant victories against top pros in the tournament and becoming the first Chinese woman to reach Grand Slam final, her outburst in the summit clash, which she lost, did not go down well at home.<br /><br />As she came under pressure from Clijsters in the second set, Li appeared fed up with shouts from Chinese fans giving her advise how to play, prompting her to complain to the British umpire saying “can you tell the Chinese spectators not to teach me how to play tennis?”<br /><br />“There were a lot of people coaching me. It was really loud,” Li said at the press conference in Chinese after the match. Her remarks upset Chinese micro bloggers with some questioning her attitude, state run ‘Global Times’ newspaper said in a report.<br /><br />“While being a Chinese, Li asked a foreigner (British umpire) to demand the Chinese spectators stop shouting, making her just like an outsider,” it quoted a microblogger as saying.<br /><br />The Southern Metropolis Daily in its commentary said Li’s request to the umpire represented her fragile state of mind in a game where she could not control her temper, and also had a bad impact on China’s international image.<br /><br />Commenting on the reaction, Zhou Xiaozheng, a professor of sociology at Renmin University of China, said that a nationalist mindset was to blame for the problem. “Chinese spectators have always attached the result of a sports game to the national image,” Zhou said.<br /><br />Apparently it was particularly sensitive for Li as she quit official tennis in China after she went ahead and married her coach Jiang Shan much against the advises of the officials of Chinese Tennis establishment.<br /><br />At the end of the match, she made it a point to make an emotional complement to her husband saying, “It doesn’t matter if you are fat or skinny, handsome or ugly, I will always follow you, always love you.”</p>
<p>While 28-year-old Li, regarded as a rare rebel in tightly controlled Chinese sporting scene, became “national hero” after scoring brilliant victories against top pros in the tournament and becoming the first Chinese woman to reach Grand Slam final, her outburst in the summit clash, which she lost, did not go down well at home.<br /><br />As she came under pressure from Clijsters in the second set, Li appeared fed up with shouts from Chinese fans giving her advise how to play, prompting her to complain to the British umpire saying “can you tell the Chinese spectators not to teach me how to play tennis?”<br /><br />“There were a lot of people coaching me. It was really loud,” Li said at the press conference in Chinese after the match. Her remarks upset Chinese micro bloggers with some questioning her attitude, state run ‘Global Times’ newspaper said in a report.<br /><br />“While being a Chinese, Li asked a foreigner (British umpire) to demand the Chinese spectators stop shouting, making her just like an outsider,” it quoted a microblogger as saying.<br /><br />The Southern Metropolis Daily in its commentary said Li’s request to the umpire represented her fragile state of mind in a game where she could not control her temper, and also had a bad impact on China’s international image.<br /><br />Commenting on the reaction, Zhou Xiaozheng, a professor of sociology at Renmin University of China, said that a nationalist mindset was to blame for the problem. “Chinese spectators have always attached the result of a sports game to the national image,” Zhou said.<br /><br />Apparently it was particularly sensitive for Li as she quit official tennis in China after she went ahead and married her coach Jiang Shan much against the advises of the officials of Chinese Tennis establishment.<br /><br />At the end of the match, she made it a point to make an emotional complement to her husband saying, “It doesn’t matter if you are fat or skinny, handsome or ugly, I will always follow you, always love you.”</p>