Hu Na was one of the best Chinese tennis players in the early 1980s. In 1981 she took part in the Fed Cup . During a stay in Santa Clara with the Chinese Fed Cup team in July 1982, she fled her hotel room to meet friends. She justified this by saying that she was facing increasing persecution for refusing to join the Communist Party . The American authorities allowed Hu Na to stay in the country for the time being. The Chinese government announced that they would not be punished in their homeland. In April 1983, the American authorities approved Hu Na's application for political asylum , against which the Chinese government protested fiercely and threatened to break off bilateral exchanges in the areas of sport and culture. However, the incident had no significant impact on relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China.
Hu Na then played for the USA, but had difficulty keeping up with the top players on the WTA Tour . Her best result in a Grand Slam tournament was reaching the third round at Wimbledon in 1985. In 1991, she resigned from professional tennis for health reasons and moved to Taiwan .
Since then, Hu Na has been commenting on tennis broadcasts for TV stations in Taiwan and the USA. In autumn 2011 she returned to China for the first time and commented on the tournament in Beijing for Taiwanese television . In an interview with Chinese journalists in July 2003, she regretted her decision at the time and cited only sporting reasons and her then young age as reasons.
In addition to her television activities, she runs a tennis school in Taipei .
People's Republic of China United States
Michelle Jaggard