Li Na (Photo : Getty Images)
Former tennis player Li Na backed WTA's world No. 1 Serena Williams to win the 2016 Australian Open title and equal Steffi Graf's record of 22 Grand Slam wins.
Li Na, who retired from playing tennis in 2014 due to a chronic left knee injury that had kept her out of the game for many years, believes Williams is untouchable in the Open era and could the title in the first Grand Slam event of the year.
"If Serena Williams wants to win, she can win," Li said after Williams defeated Camila Giorgi 6-4 7-5 on Monday, reports Sport24.
Li Na also expects Williams she will keep on competing, brushing off any retirement talks for the 21-time Grand Slam champion. The two-time champion, who won her first Australian Open title in 2014, said she missed the competition, but admitted she loves her life is right now.
Meanwhile, Williams, who missed out a calendar Grand Slam last year after losing in the semifinal round of the US Open against Roberta Vinci, now moves to the second round of the 2016 Australian Open to face Chinese Taipei's Su-Wei Hsieh, who defeated Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 3-6 7-5 6-1.
Williams' victory dismissed concerns about his sore knee she suffered last year in the Hopman Cup exhibition, insisting that she feels great after one hour and 43 minutes of play.
"I have been going non-stop since the Olympics in London, and seeing that this is another Olympic year, I kind of wanted to start the year out really fresh and really go at it again as hard as I can," Williams said, reports The Guardian.
"I just needed that time to just recover the best of my ability and get really fit, you know, and really train and get ready for the season."
