In Australia to defend her Sydney International title and a finals appearance at the Australian Open, China's top tennis player Li Na has a sense of purpose.
在澳大利亚,中国顶尖网球选手李娜的目的十分明确:除了要卫冕她在悉尼国际网球赛上的冠军头衔,她还要争取亮相澳大利亚网球公开赛总决赛。
After becoming the nation's first Grand Slam champion in Paris last June, she recorded just six wins in the remainder of 2011.
去年6月在法国巴黎成为中国首个大满贯冠军之后,在2011年剩下的日子里李娜仅取得了六场胜利。
"After the French, I think I lost the concentration on the court," Li said, adding that she feels prepared for 2012 thanks to hard work during her two-month-long off-season.
李娜说,法网之后,我想自己在赛场上无法集中精神。李娜又说,多亏了淡季两个月的刻苦训练,我觉得自己为2012年做好了准备。
After competing in her first WTA Year-End Championships in Istanbul, the 29-year-old returned to her home in Wuhan, then traveled to Beijing for photo shoots with Chinese sponsors Taikang Life Insurance, dairy company Yili and Kunlun Mountain Mineral Water. Then she was off to a month of training in Munich, returning to Wuhan to compete in a pre-Christmas exhibition tournament called "Li Na and Friends" where she hosted Pete Sampras, Carlos Moya and Sabine Lisicki.
去年,在伊斯坦布尔结束了其首个WTA年终锦标赛之后,29岁的李娜回到了老家武汉。随后她到北京为中国赞助商泰康人寿、乳品企业伊利以及昆仑山矿泉水拍照。之后她到慕尼黑进行了一个月的训练。随后李娜回到武汉,参加了一场在圣诞前举行的名为“李娜和朋友们”的友谊赛。参加这场友谊赛的还有网球名将桑普拉斯(Pete Sampras)、莫亚(Carlos Moya)和利斯基(Sabine Lisicki)。
Li then went to Jiangmen in the south of China, where she put in hours on outdoor practice courts, before jetting off to Perth for the Hopman Cup. "In Perth, I held a baby kangaroo, but I never had this experience holding animals before ─ only my friend's baby," she said.
比赛结束后,李娜回到中国南方城市江门。在江门,李娜每天都要在室外练习场训练好几个小时。训练结束后,她飞赴珀斯参加霍普曼杯(Hopman Cup)比赛。李娜说,在珀斯,我抱住了一只婴儿袋鼠,此前我从未有过这样的经历。我只抱过朋友的宝宝。
Despite her globetrotting, she said she won't get to explore Sydney or Melbourne. "I feel a bit sad that there is no time to look around the cities," she said. "For us as tennis athletes, it's tough because every day [we] just focus on the tournament. If we have [a] day off we also have training and are not totally relaxed."
尽管都在环游世界,但李娜说她不会去仔细浏览悉尼或墨尔本。她说自己感到有点难过,因为没有时间逛逛这些城市。李娜说,对于我们网球运动员来说,日子过得并不容易,因为每一天我们都在关注比赛。如果能有一天休息,我们也是在训练,无法完全放松。
But Li, who ousted her husband and coach Jiang Shan for keeping her awake with his snoring to the amusement of audiences tuned in to 2011's Australian Open, said she'll try to fit in some shopping after the year's first Grand Slam. "We women just like to spend but after bringing back to the home, maybe we never use, but I like the two seconds where you feel excited," she said with a laugh, acknowledging that she subscribes to retail therapy.
但李娜又说,在今年首个大满贯比赛结束之后她会尽力挤出一些购物的时间。李娜承认自己赞成“购物疗法”。她笑着说,女人喜欢花钱,但东西买回来之后可能从来不会去用。但我很喜欢那让你感到兴奋的两秒钟。李娜说自己炒掉老公兼教练姜山是因为他鼾声如雷,吵得自己无法入眠,她的话让收看2011年澳网公开赛的观众们哈哈大笑。
And like Anna Wintour showing up in Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova's players boxes or Sean 'P Diddy' Combs sitting in Novak Djokovic's corner, has Li been approached by any newfound celebrity friends for tennis' best tickets?
时装界“女魔头”安娜•温图尔(Anna Wintour)曾经现身天王费德勒(Roger Federer)和莎拉波娃(Maria Sharapova)的球员包厢;而说唱巨星肖恩•康姆斯(Sean "P Diddy" Combs)也曾坐在德约科维奇(Novak Djokovic)的私人包厢中。那么近来是否有明星朋友向李娜讨要网球比赛的头等票呢?
"In China we have Weibo, which is like Facebook, so Chinese movie stars and singers have contacted me on that, but nothing else so far," she said. She did admit she has had to alter her habits at home. "People say" That's Li Na, "so I have to change my eating time. For example, I go to lunch in a restaurant from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. to avoid peak hours," she said.
李娜说,在中国我们有和Facebook类似的微博,所以中国的电影明星和歌手都通过微博和我联系,但到目前为止还没人向我讨过票。李娜承认在家的时候不得不改变习惯。她说,人们会喊:那是李娜。所以我不得不改变用餐时间。比如,为了避开高峰时段,我会在下午两点到四点之间去餐馆吃午饭。
Further success in events such as the London 2012 Olympic Games could prompt further lifestyle adjustments, but Ms. Na is gladly continuing on the journey which takes her to at least 20 cities a year and has given her the title of China's most highly profiled athlete following NBA star Yao Ming's retirement.
如果李娜在2012年伦敦奥运会等赛事上取得进一步成功,那么其生活方式可能还要进一步调整。但李娜乐于继续这段旅程:正是这段旅程让她一年至少去过20个城市,也让她成为NBA巨星姚明退役之后最受关注的中国运动员。
"I like this job a lot and enjoy the tennis life, so as long as I feel my body is healthy, I will play," she said.
李娜说,我非常喜欢这份职业,也很享受网球人生。所以只要我的身体没问题,我会继续打下去。