Chinese tennis star Li Na, a two-time Grand Slam champion, has announced her retirement, citing "chronic injuries."
Li won the French Open in 2011, becoming the first player from China to win a Grand Slam singles title. She won the Australian Open earlier this year but played sparingly after that due to a knee injury.
In a statement posted on social media Friday, the 32-year-old Li said: “After four knee surgeries and hundreds of shots injected into my knee weekly to alleviate swelling and pain, my body is begging me to stop the pounding."
She said she "tried to go through all the necessary steps to get back on the court" after her most recent knee surgery in July.
Li said it took "several agonizing months" to finally come to the decision that "my chronic injuries will never again let me be the tennis player that I can be."
Li noted that she has succeeded on the global stage in tennis, a sport "that a few years ago was in its infancy in China." She said what she accomplished for her country was one of her most proud achievements.
During her career, Li won nine World Tennis Association tournaments and reached number two in the world rankings in 2014 after her Australian Open win.
She was named in the Top 100 highest paid athletes for 2014 by Forbes magazine, with more than $20 million in total earnings.
