China’s Li face scrutiny over fiery temper

BEIJING, China— China's fiery tennis superstar Li Na heads into next week's US Open eyeing a second Grand Slam crown but with questions over her temperament mounting in Chinese media after two furious outbursts.

Winning the 2011 French Open title sealed Li's place as the country's tennis darling as 116 million people at home tuned in to watch her become Asia's first Grand Slam singles champion.

But the world number six, now a veteran at 31, has developed a reputation as a prickly character in a nation where sports stars typically keep their emotions strictly in check after years in the rigid state sports training system.

After her secondround exit at the French Open and her quarter-final defeat at Wimbledon, Li turned on Wang Zijiang of official news agency Xinhua when he asked if she had a message for fans back home.

" I lost a game and that's it. Do I need to get on my knees and kowtow to them? Apologise to them?" she snapped in Paris.

A month later at Wimbledon, he asked the same question again. "How dare he? Doesn't he have any shame?" said Li, who trained as a journalist herself in her 20s.

Her reaction prompted widespread denunciations on China's hugely popular microblogging sites. "Losing the game is OK, you can win it next time. What you really need to improve is your courtesy and behaviour," said a poster with the username Dibayin.