PARIS, France – Former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka said she was “shocked by the situation” of Chinese player Peng Shuai on social media on Tuesday, who has reportedly disappeared for ten days after accusing a former senior of rape Communist leader of the country.
“Censorship is never acceptable no matter what, I hope Peng Shuai and her family are healthy and doing well,” Osaka added in a message posted on Twitter, accompanied by a photo of the Chinese player. .
“I am shocked by the current situation and I send him love and light on his way,” adds the two-time winner of the US Open (2018, 2020) and the Australian Open (2019, 2021) , who retired from the circuit to “take a break for a while” after his elimination in the third round at Flushing Meadows and a 2021 season disrupted by anxiety issues and “several depressive episodes”.
The WTA, which manages the women’s circuit, said Sunday, in a statement from its CEO Steve Simon, that “recent events in China concerning a WTA player, Peng Shuai, (were) very worrying.” She called for a “full, fair, transparent and uncensored investigation”.
On Monday, world No. 1 Novak Djokovic also found Peng Shuai’s situation “shocking” during a press conference held as part of the ATP Finals in Turin.
The 35-year-old former doubles world No. 1 accused on social media former Deputy Prime Minister Zhang Gaoli, who from 2013 to 2018 was one of China’s most powerful politicians, of having forced her to have sex before making her his mistress.
This explosive accusation was briefly posted on November 2 on the player’s official Weibo account (a Chinese equivalent of Twitter). As of November 4, China had blocked any reference to this message attributed to Peng Shuai, but which AFP was unable to confirm if it had been written by the player herself.
Since then, the player has not communicated or made a public appearance and Zhang Gaoli has never publicly reacted to the accusations.
