The mother of two said she was a little nervous about Saturday's induction ceremony in Newport, Rhode Island, but takes inspiration from something else she admired about Agassi.

"Andre never cared about what other people said, he just did things his own way," said Li, who is joined in this year's class by fellow two-time Grand Slam singles champions Mary Pierce of France and Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia.

Li said she can see the growth of tennis in China, where the WTA Finals will be played in Shenzhen and which got another event on the this year's tour calendar when the former Connecticut Open was moved to Zhengzhou.

"It's not only good for the athletes, it's good for the fans to have less traveling," Li said. "They can see a high-level tournament in China.

"I think Chinese tennis is still young. We have a lot of time to get bigger and better."

XINHUA / AGENCIES