Lesley Stahl profiles the great Chinese tennis champion who stood up to her country's stringent sports system.

 

It's not unusual for tennis stars to have been groomed from an early age by hard-driving parents. Andre Agassi had his father Mike. Martina Hingis, her mother Melanie. Chinese champion Li Na, who became one of the highest-paid and most-watched female athletes in the world, had a "tennis parent" too. Hers was her country's state-run sports system.

One of tennis' big "grand slam" tournaments, the Australian Open, is underway this week, but without Li Na. After she won last year, she hung up her racquet...leaving the sport after a remarkable career. Remarkable not just because she won two Grand Slams, but because she stood up to the Chinese authorities to win some freedom.

 

This text is an abstract from the CBS 60 minutes website.