Young stars keen to take over from Li

A promising group of Chinese youngsters are well on the path to filling the giant void left by the retirement of Chinese tennis star Li Na.

When the two-time Grand Slam winner announced her retirement in an emotional farewell letter on her micro blog on Friday morning, the spotlight immediately fell on the next generation of Chinese players who were practicing in Incheon, South Korea, in preparation for their Asian Games' campaigns.

Citing the inspiration of Li's Grand Slam successes and her courage to develop outside the State-run system, the young hopefuls said they can now dare to dream of tennis glory.