It’s all too familiar in sports: You’re on top of the world, you’re a media darling, and then suddenly comes crashing down to earth.
Remember Tiger Woods?
Even Roger Federer?
The Williams Sisters?
Now, it’s the turn of Li Na.
After winning the French Open only a little over three months ago, it’s been one disaster after the next.
First, she fired her husband as her coach and hired Denmark’s Michael Mortensen who seems to be on the way out.
This follows her humiliating first round defeat in the US Open by Romanian teenager Simona Halep.
Li Na wears her heart on her sleeve and she’s made it clear to everyone within earshot that she doesn’t know what the hell has gone wrong with her game.
Speaking after her 2-6, 5-7 defeat to Halep, she was quoted as saying, “Now I lose all the confidence on the court, I was feeling: ‘Oh, tennis is just too tough for me'”.
Then she turned her wrath at Mortensen: “He tells me everything is perfect; everything is fantastic. I said, “Yes, everything is fantastic, but always lose first round.’ I mean, this is not fantastic. I think we need to change something.”
While Li Na ranted, kicked the cat and threw her toys out of her pram, Halep had the last word- or words: “Yeah, maybe she played like s***, but it’s OK.”.