Due to the unclear situation about the Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, the WTA will no longer host tournaments in China and Hong Kong for the time being. This was announced by Steve Simon, head of the WTA women’s world tour, on Wednesday. He had repeatedly expressed concern for Peng. “I am very sorry that it has come to this,” said Simon.
“I do not see how I can ask our athletes with a clear conscience to compete there if Peng Shuai is not allowed to communicate freely and has apparently been pressured to contradict their allegations of sexual assault,” said the WTA boss in a statement on Tuesday . He said he was very concerned about the risks players and staff could be exposed to if events were held in China in 2022.
China’s political leadership left the WTA with no other choice. However, Simon continues to hope that the requests will be heard and that the Chinese authorities will take steps to legitimately address this problem, the WTA chief said.
China as an important WTA location
Peng Shuai, former world number one in doubles, published allegations of sexual assault by a top Chinese politician on the Weibo social network in early November. Your post was deleted soon after. Since then, athletes, politicians and human rights activists have expressed concern for the tennis player’s well-being.
With a number of events, China is an important location and donor of the WTA tour. In 2018, for example, the season-end tournament for the eight best players of the year from 2019 to 2028 was awarded to the Chinese city of Shenzhen, and the prize money doubled from seven million US dollars to 14 million. The case will become even more explosive due to the upcoming Winter Games in Beijing in February.
