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(CNN)This time last year, Li Na took center stage in the tennis universe when she won her second Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.
Twelve months later, the former world No. 2 faces a whole new challenge – getting to grips with the vacuum cleaner.
Persistent and worsening knee problems forced her to retire in September at the age of 32, and she admits the transition from tennis star to domestic goddess has been challenging.
“I do the house cleaning. I used to think it was all pretty easy when I traveled. And now I have to do all these things, I think tennis is a lot easier,” she told CNN’s Open Court.
Luckily for Li, she has the support of her husband Dennis, with whom she is expecting her first child this summer.
“Family is the most important thing for me,” she said two days before announcing her pregnancy on the opening day of the first Grand Slam of the year.
“I’m starting to learn to cook – I never had the time or the opportunity before. Now I sometimes say, ‘Hey Dennis – I always clean the house, you have to cook.’ He’s a bit like, “Hey, I’m the man – why would I do that?”
Li, China’s top tennis export, became Asia’s first Grand Slam singles champion at the 2011 French Open before clinching another title with that win in Melbourne last year.
But she says she’ll be glad all of that will be forgotten if she can help create a new generation of Chinese tennis stars.
“I will try to start a tennis academy to help more young children,” she explains. “When I said I was retiring and said I wanted a tennis academy, everyone in China invited me.
“But of course I have to find the right one in a big city and communicate with the government.”
From what she’s seen so far, a lack of faith shouldn’t be a problem when it comes to the nation’s promising young players.
“I hear people say, ‘Oh, my daughter is 10 times better than Li Na,'” she smiles. “I like that confidence. At least they have a purpose.”
And as she succeeds in nurturing new talent, Li, who has won a total of nine WTA titles, would like people’s memories of her stellar career to quietly fade.
“Honestly, I want the world to forget me,” she adds. “Because if they always remember me, it means that Chinese tennis has not grown up yet. I wish that many young or new players will emerge and people will say, ‘Oh, this is a Chinese player.'”
But she admits it was a very difficult step to leave her own career behind and describes the decision to quit as “pretty sad”.
It was also inevitable.
“My knee couldn’t take it anymore,” she adds. “I think it was after Wimbledon when I saw the knee get even worse.
“At the end of July I had to have the fourth operation. I tried to recover but I wasn’t feeling well.
“Women’s tennis is pretty tough now and everyone is much stronger. So if I couldn’t stay healthy, I couldn’t play at the highest level. When you’re a professional athlete, you always want to win everyone [matches]. You never want to lose in court.”
After all those years on the tour – turning pro in 1999 – Li is starting to get used to the idea of spending more free time and less jetting from country to country.
But she never takes her eyes off what’s happening in the tennis world and is watching with growing interest the continued progress of Japanese star Kei Nishikori.
“I think he’s doing amazingly,” she adds. “Last year, at the US Open, he was pretty close to the trophy.”
She hopes the Japanese star’s success will also inspire men’s football in China. “He’s doing well, but he’s not that big or that strong. People can think ‘he’s not a western player’ and maybe male players [in China] can think we could do the same or even better.”
And as she settles down to watch her first Australian Open in years as a spectator rather than a participant, Li thinks who could take the title she can no longer defend due to her retirement?
“I think maybe [Wimbledon champion] Petra Kvitova,” she says, supporting her best friend on the tour. “I like the way she hits.” But — as if we really need a warning — don’t write Serena Williams off. “If she wants to win, she can win.”
Whoever lifts the trophy could inspire Li – if his knees allow it, of course – to get back on the pitch and throw in a few shots. However, this time there will be no glory and no fans: all future games will be purely for fun.
After all, as she says, you can’t completely move away from something that was so central to your world.
“Tennis is my life,” she concludes. “I grew up with tennis and everything I know comes from tennis.”
Read: Li Na – Up Close and Personal
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