French Open champion Li Na bucks the trend and admits that her life actually has changed since she won a major. Li told CNN's Open Court that on her first return home, she was swarmed.
"Life has changed a lot. I knew after the French Open when I went back to China the fans would be crazy," she said. "I came back home and a lady (on the street) said, 'Li Na, I know who you are, I need a photograph with you, an autograph.' She spoke so loud and everyone heard it. More people were coming so me and my friend were full-power running to the car."
Li also gave credit to her former coach, Thomas Hogstedt, who now coaches Maria Sharapova, for instilling belief in her.
"Thomas, he was very different to Chinese coaches," Li said. "He always gave me confidence. First time he was saying 'You can be in the top 20.' I said 'Are you joking?' because I didn't believe it—I never had a coach say I can be top 20."