Video shows Li slapped by Chinese tennis official in 2001

In a video making the social-media rounds, it appears that Li Na was slapped by a Chinese official during a medal ceremony after winning the bronze medal in mixed doubles at China’s 2001 national games. Time links to the clip of the incident, which resurfaced after Li won her first Australian Open.

While the intention of the slap was unknown at the time, Li and her present-day husband and former mixed doubles partner, Jiang “Dennis” Shan, were battling with federation, which was allegedly trying to split them apart as a team and a couple. The state-controlled press criticized Li at the time, saying she “has her own agenda, which is to stand on the champion’s platform with her boyfriend so they can memorialize their love.”

Li later said: “Neither one of us got happiness [from the tournament]. Our hearts grew colder.”

She later quit the sport for a period to study journalism. “At last I made my decision that I would leave that place of sorrow,” she wrote in her memoir.