Women's tennis returns to China after Peng Shuai boycott
The WTA suspended activities when former world doubles number one Peng briefly disappeared after accusing a senior Chinese leader of sexual assault
Professional women’s tennis will return to China next week, less than two years after the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) vowed to boycott the country out of concern for player Peng Shuai as well as risks to its players and staff.
The WTA tournament on Monday in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou will be the first in mainland China since 2019 – however, no top-20 stars are expected to participate.
In December 2021, the WTA suspended activities when former world doubles number one Peng briefly disappeared after accusing a senior Chinese leader of sexual assault. She later retracted the accusation.
Saying the issue was "bigger than business,” the tennis body insisted it would not hold events in China until Beijing guaranteed the safety of Peng.
Peng published a long social media post in November 2021 saying she had been "forced" into sex during a years-long, on-and-off relationship with Zhang Gaoli, a married ex-vice premier of China. She has not been seen outside China since the allegations were made.
In April this year though, the WTA announced the resumption of tournaments, admitting its "principled stand... a powerful message to the world" had not been able "to bring about change.”
"It was, in my opinion, a complete capitulation, because it was pretty obvious to anyone who knows anything about China that China wasn't going to offer a free or fair investigation into the sexual assault claims," China-based sports expert Mark Dreyer told AFP.
Dreyer added that the suspension had been largely symbolic as most international sporting events were put on hold during the pandemic under China's strict zero-Covid policy.