Fresh off her Australian Open championship win, Li Na returned home to China on Monday only to be greeted at Wuhan's Tianhe Airport by Hubei Provincial Governor Wang Guosheng and a big red check for 800,000 yuan (U.S. $132,124).
Photos of Li Na at the event suggest that she had little interest in meeting the governor and little excitement at receiving the award. Sources also reported that she did not seem very happy when hugged by her former coach Yu Liqiao.
Online commentators provided a range of explanations for Li Na's cold expression. One popular thread provided a video of Li Na allegedly being slapped by a Chinese official during the tennis awards ceremony at the 2001 National Games as an explanation for why she seemed so aloof.
Hubei Sports Administration Director Hu Dechun, however, said that there was nothing behind Li Na's reaction other than that she was exhausted from playing in the tournament and the long flight from Australia.
Online commentators also criticized giving Li Na the award in the first place. Li Na has enough money, said one commentator. "Why not give it to needy people." Even China's Xinhua News Agency described the event as "embarrassing" and showing a culture of money-worship.
Still, Hubei Sports Administration's Hu defended the award as being more than just a casual giving of money. "There are policies and rules behind the award," he said. Awards are given to each world and national champion.
Indeed, according to Shanghai University of Sports professor Xiao Huanyu, "the government deems sports achievement a kind of political achievement" and so they had to give it or be seen as "losing face."
Since 2008, Li Na has trained, managed and financed her tennis career on her own without any assistance from the government or participation in the state-run system. It is well known that she and her former coach Yu Liqiao had a troubled relationship.