A Chinese professional tennis player, Peng Shuai has not been seen in public since she accused a former top government official of sexual assault. The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) is still trying to make “direct contact” with Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai.
The 35-year-old accused former China vice-premier Zhang Gaoli of forcing her into a sexual relationship on November 2 and has not been seen since. The WTA has been told Peng is safe, and in Beijing, by the Chinese Tennis Association, although WTA CEO Steve Simon said there has been no confirmation that is true.
Speaking to BBC Sport, Simon said: “We cannot stand by compromises. This is a right and wrong issue. We continue all of our efforts to reach out and hopefully speak to her directly.”
“I’m very concerned about the challenges that come when somebody has the courage to step up and speak out. Bringing a past experience that is tied to sexual assault or harassment. It takes an awful lot of courage just to get to that point. And now she’s dealing with more pressures if she is hearing what is going on. It is critical to us that we are able to make sure she knows we are worried about her. And that we’re prepared to offer any level of support that she needs.”
WTA prepared to pull tournaments out of China
Peng Shuai is a former world number one doubles player. She has won two Grand Slam titles – Wimbledon in 2013 and the 2014 French Open, both alongside Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Su-Wei. She also achieved a career-high singles rankings of 14 in 2011 and reached the US Open singles semi-finals in 2014.
“This is not about the money, this is about doing what is right and making sure Peng Shuai is safe and free. The sad part about this is that we have some tremendous partners and some tremendous friendships in China. We don’t want to be in this position. But at the end of the day, this is one of those decisions where compromises are not acceptable. We have to do what is right here. And we will figure that out if we end up being in that position at the end of the day,” said Steve Simon
Many Tennis superstars such as Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray have all expressed similar concerns over Shuai’s safety in recent days. World number one Novak Djokovic said he would support the WTA pulling tournaments out of China if it came to that.
“I support the statement of WTA as an organization and also their president absolutely. The whole tennis community needs to back her up and her family, make sure that she’s safe. And sound because if you would have tournaments on Chinese soil without resolving this situation. It would be a little bit strange.”
