'High-profile' Li Na says husband more famous in China than her

Chinese tennis ace Li Na has admitted that her husband and former coach Jiang Shan is far better known in China than herself.

The wisecracking Li, who is the first Asian player to win a Grand Slam singles title and last year was named among the world's 100 most influential people by Time, is second behind Maria Sharapova in annual earnings among global sportswomen.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Li, who has been described by WTA president Stacey Allaster as the decade's most important player, said that Shan is far better known in their homeland than herself despite she being China's highest-profile female athlete.

Li quipped that she is lucky when she is not out shopping or walking on the road with her husband as then she can move relatively unnoticed, adding that he is more famous than her.

Li's form improved markedly during the US hardcourt swing, and it took Serena Williams to stop Li in three of her last four tournaments in a 2013 season in which she failed to achieve her Grand Slam goal, but reached at least the quarter-finals of every non-clay event she entered, and thus rates as the most consistent of her career.