WTA tournaments to return to China after boycott of Peng Shuai allegations

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By Russell FullerBBC Tennis CorrespondentApril 13, 2023, 1:46pm BST

Updated 32 minutes ago

image source, Getty Images

Legend,

The 2019 WTA Finals took place in Shenzhen, China with Ashleigh Barty winning the title

The Women’s Tennis Association will resume tournaments in China this year after agreeing that an investigation into former player Peng Shuai’s sexual assault allegations will not be conducted by the Chinese government.

Former doubles world number one Peng said in November 2021 that she was “forced” to have sex with former Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli.

After making the accusation in a social media post, Peng briefly disappeared from the public eye and later denied making the allegation. Zhang has not publicly commented on the allegation.

The WTA had called on the Chinese authorities to carry out a “full, fair and transparent” investigation before any tournament could take place.

“We have been in this business for 16 months and we are confident that at this stage our demands will not be met,” WTA chief executive Steve Simon told BBC Sport.

“Continuing with the same strategy does not make sense and a different approach is needed. Hopefully by coming back more progress can be made.”

This decision means that the last two months of the WTA season will once again be dominated by China. Simon said the schedule will be “very similar” to the pre-pandemic year of 2019, when eight Chinese tournaments were staged in eight weeks starting in early September.

Most importantly, the season-ending WTA Finals will resume their 10-year deal with the city of Shenzhen. Prices this year, like the first year of the contract in 2019, will be 11.2 million.

Simon says the “vast majority” of players are in favor of a return to China.

And despite promising a hard line with the Chinese government, in which there would be no room for compromise, he says he has not considered resigning.

“No, I would never do that to an organization. It’s about leading an organization and listening to its members,” he said.

“We have athletes who come from over 80 nations, so there are a lot of different opinions, but the majority of athletes were very supportive of returning to the region. We certainly have some who weren’t, but the majority – the vast majority – were in favor and are in favor of returning. There was strong support among the members, the [player] council and the board of directors. »

Simon says this change of mind was not forced on them by business realities, but admits the members would have “sacrificed a lot” if the WTA Tour had been pulled from China for good.

The WTA boycott lasted just over 16 months, although no tournaments could take place in the country during that time anyway due to the Covid pandemic.

“We got assurances from people close to Peng that she is safe and living with her family in Beijing,” Simon said when asked if the WTA had achieved anything. He says he hasn’t been able to speak personally with Peng yet.

“We also have assurances that there will be no issues with our players and staff while they compete in China. And hopefully we have received some respect for the position we have taken,” he continued.

“We haven’t seen anyone else take a stance like us. There haven’t been other sports leagues or companies that have – we’ve taken that tough stance, we stand behind it.”

The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) men’s tour has pledged to hold events in 2023 in Chengdu, Zhuhai, Shanghai and Beijing once China’s Covid regulations are relaxed, and the International Tennis Federation ( ITF) said this month it was looking forward to hosting the World Tennis Tour. back to China.

“We didn’t go in there hoping anyone would. [follow suit]“, added Simon.

“I would have liked to see that, for sure, but we did not expect it and we are not pointing the finger at anyone else.”

Simon denies that by returning to China, the WTA removed a crucial pillar of support for Peng.

“We hope that by the time we return, more progress will be made,” he said. “We are very proud of the position we have taken.

“We are not going to let Peng be forgotten at this point.”

Kai Ong, China researcher at Amnesty International, said: “There is no independently verifiable evidence that can prove that Peng Shuai is truly safe and free.

“We remind the WTA of the structural barriers that many survivors of sexual violence in China face when seeking justice and redress.

“Returning to China without continuing to push for an independent investigation into Peng’s accusations risks perpetuating the systemic injustice faced by victims of sexual violence in the country.”

“A welcome return from a tennis point of view”

The decision was called “very important” by French world number five Caroline Garcia, who said she understood the decision to return to China.

“ATP and ITF were already coming back, and women’s tennis is following,” she told BBC Sport.

“In the past we’ve had huge tournaments there and I think this is a big turning point for us in our schedule and I’m looking forward to it.”

Former UK number one Anne Keothavong, who leads the Billie Jean King Cup national team, and current UK player Katie Boulter both stressed that Peng’s safety was their main concern.

But they added that the future health of the WTA Tour – and hosting more tournaments – needed to be considered.

“From a tennis perspective, I hope it will be a welcome return,” Keothahong said.

“I don’t know if they were able to investigate as they would have liked, but tennis is a business. The WTA needs to generate commercial revenue and the players need a circuit to compete.”

Boulter added: “I think at the end of the day there are two things. One, we hope Peng Shuai is okay and two, it’s just an excitement to have tournaments on the schedule.

“Sometimes I think we don’t have enough tournaments and I really hope we can go out and enjoy them.”

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