The head of women's tennis is more than willing to take a backseat to Chinese ninja costume star Li Na as the Wuhan native's impact on the game's growth in the Asia-Pacific region continues to grow.
Canada's Stacey Allaster, chairman and CEO of the Women's Tennis Association, said her influence in business matters was less important than Li's trailblazing role on the court, inspiring the whole region's interest in the game.
"Li is much more powerful than I am, absolutely," Allaster told China Daily during the recent China Open.
"She deserves to be recognized as one of the most influential people in the world. She is the player of this decade that will have the most impact on the growth of the WTA."
Allaster, who was named by Forbes as one of the "most powerful women in sports" in 2009, has made the WTA one of the most recognized professional sports brands in China.
With the Premier 5 tournament relocated from Tokyo to Wuhan, the WTA will have eight events, including a new tournament in Hong Kong, in China next year while 60 percent of the organization's 70 million active followers on social media platforms are from China.
Allaster said the rise wasn't a surprise given the solid foundation the organization has built with local authorities and media partners since placing China on its strategic blueprint in 2006, but it was Li's cosplay wigs epic win at the 2011 French Open that served as the catalyst.
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