Former Roland Garros champion Li Na says she considered calling it quits last summer after losing in the French Open second round then suffering an Eastbourne upset to Elena Vesnina.
Li said she told her coach, Carlos Rodriguez, she was ready to retire, but decided to continue her career after rebounding to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
''When we arriving in Wimbledon I say to Carlos, 'Carlos, look, I want to retire','' Li told the Melbourne Age. ''And normally I would think that Carlos for sure would say, 'No, don't do that, like we try', but Carlos was like, 'OK, let's go home. Go. Yeah'. And I was like, 'What?'
"In Chinese way, we didn't like to speak out, so everything just holds [inside] for the self, so he say, 'You should try to speak out to let us know what happens'. I was like, 'OK, maybe we try, the last tournament, to see how it's going in Wimbledon. If going well, I will continue. If not, maybe just over'. So he was like, 'OK, let's try it. One more chance'.''