One month ago, Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai made a lengthy statement on Weibo (a Chinese social media platform) in which she accused a high-ranking Chinese government official named Zhang Gaoli of rape, abuse and harassment. The Chinese government removed her statement within minutes, and proceeded to wipe Shuai’s social media presence from Weibo. China is even censoring Shuai’s name and certain messages associated with tennis on Weibo. At some point, Shuai was… um, put in a situation where she could not communicate with anyone, where no one knows where she is, and where her friends cannot find her. Her family is reportedly missing as well.
In the days and weeks that followed Shuai’s Weibo statement and disappearance, players with the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and Association of Tennis Players (ATP) made big public statements in support of her. WTA president Steve Simon repeatedly went on CNN and blanketed the media with a message to China: free Peng Shuai, let us know where she is, give her access to phones and email and investigate her #MeToo story. China did not comply. Instead, they proceeded to carefully parade Shuai out in a series of carefully choreographed and highly controlled photo-ops. She even “spoke” via video-conference to Thomas Bach, head of the International Olympic Committee. IOC member Dick Pound has been doing China’s bidding for weeks, claiming there is nothing to see here with the Peng Shuai situation, and claiming that she’s just fine. Steve Simon remained unconvinced. And on December 1st, he formalized his displeasure, the displeasure of the WTA community. Simon has now pulled women’s tennis out of China completely:
The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) chairman and CEO Steve Simon has announced an immediate suspension of all WTA tournaments in China, including Hong Kong.
In a statement released Wednesday, Simon said the decision was based on the lack of transparency by Chinese officials following tennis player Peng Shuai’s allegation of sexual assault against a top Chinese government official.
“In good conscience, I don’t see how I can ask our athletes to compete there when Peng Shuai is not allowed to communicate freely and has seemingly been pressured to contradict her allegation of sexual assault,” Simon said. “Given the current state of affairs, I am also greatly concerned about the risks that all of our players and staff could face if we were to hold events in China in 2022.”
Simon said the WTA recognized when Peng released her statement in November that her “message had to be listened to and taken seriously. The players of the WTA, not to mention women around the world, deserve nothing less.”
“From that moment forward, Peng Shuai demonstrated the importance of speaking out, particularly when it comes to sexual assault, and especially when powerful people are involved,” Simon said. “As Peng said in her post, ‘even if it is like an egg hitting a rock, or if I am like a moth drawn to the flame, inviting self-destruction, I will tell the truth about you.’ She knew the dangers she would face, yet she went public anyway. I admire her strength and courage.”
In the statement, Simon goes on to explain he has “serious doubts that she is free, safe, and not subject to censorship, coercion, and intimidation. The WTA has been clear on what is needed here, and we repeat our call for a full and transparent investigation — without censorship — into Peng Shuai’s sexual assault accusation. None of this is acceptable nor can it become acceptable. If powerful people can suppress the voices of women and sweep allegations of sexual assault under the rug, then the basis on which the WTA was founded — equality for women — would suffer an immense setback. I will not and cannot let that happen to the WTA and its players.”
I’ll admit, I have tears in my eyes. It’s phenomenal to see Steve Simon stand up for a vulnerable survivor of rape, a survivor who is still being confined, detained, suppressed, silenced and oppressed by her government. It’s phenomenal to see a women’s organization in SPORTS show more guts than any government and any business. WTA players are backing Steve Simon and using this announcement to continue to agitate for Shuai’s release. ATP players are also backing the WTA’s decision, and several of them are already arguing that the men’s tour should follow suit and pull the ATP tournaments out of Beijing and Shanghai.
Beyond the huge moral stand being taken, there are some financial and tennis-tour repercussions. The WTA removing itself from China means less money for the players, as the Asian swing in the fall had millions of dollars in prize money. But on the other hand, China is not the only Asian country, and this might be an interesting moment for Korea, Japan, India, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand to go big and bet big on women’s tennis. This year, the tour also moved the WTA Finals (for the top eight players) out of China and into Guadalajara, Mexico and it was a MASSIVE success. Mexican tennis fans were so supportive of the ladies, so much so that the WTA should consider going back to having a swing of tournaments in Latin America.
Photos courtesy of Getty, Avalon Red.
I was disappointed by the slow reaction from some big tennis stars. Out of the Big 3 only Djokovic condemned them right away. It was radiosilence from Rafa and Fed.
It seems like a lot of people don’t want to offend China, don’t want to lose out on the almighty dollar. Meanwhile, Peng most definitely knew that by writing what she did, she would be detained and censored, God knows what else is being done to her. What a brave woman. Its time to stop bowing to the Chinese government and call it out for what it is.
ITF and ATP need to get on side now. They look awful the longer they do nothing.
There probably wouldn’t have been any tournaments in China next year because of COVID so the WTA is not really losing anything by doing this. My concern now is for the other Chinese players. Are they going to be allowed to play on the tour? Is the WTA going to protect them from the Chinese Tennis Federation?
Wait so the government has also possibly detained her family? How is this not a larger story?? The Olympics needs to pull out all the stops on China next year. This is unbelievable.
Ugh the IOC is trash. I don’t plan to watch the Winter Olympics or support them in any way.
I hate Dick Pound and the IOC. Remember when the racist said this:
“We must not forget that 400 years ago, Canada was a land of savages, with scarcely 10,000 inhabitants of European descent, while in China, we’re talking about a 5,000-year-old civilization,” he said.
Oh eff THAT. I’ll be damned if I watch the Winter Olympics now. I’d love to see other Olympians pull out of competition in support, but I can only imagine what it would take to make such a decision.
Oh my god!!! What a repulsive sick racist!
He’s patting himself on the back for being so openminded as to acknowledge China’s history but how pathetically ignorantly jawdroppingly racist is he about indigenous cultures, truly disgusting.
He actually made the original comment in French, and showed his ass again with his defense that the French “sauvages” doesn’t have the same connotations as the English word “savages”. That is somewhat true, it can also mean “wild”, as in an untamed landscape. But his exact words were “un pays DE sauvages”. The “de” makes a huge difference and really sets the context: he was talking about wild PEOPLE, And he was arrogant and racist enough to count on those so-called savages being too simple and uneducated to know that he wasn’t talking about clear streams and virgin forests. It’s rather like when men claim that their creepy sexual advance were just misinterpreted friendly gestures, like our silly ladybrains couldn’t possibly know the difference.
This makes me so mad. I have not heard this quote before. I am an Indigenous person in Canada and there were more than 10,000 here and we had societies with laws, trade agreements, everything.
This whole story is heartbreaking and I am so impressed by what the WTA is doing. I will not be watching the Winter Olympics, every year I become more disgusted with the Olympic Committee.
Oh, wow, I missed that! That man has no right to be associated with an international organization of any kind.
The IOC needs some serious reformation. They’re been problematic for decades.
Unfortunately China doesn’t give a flying you-know-what about this and what the rest of the world thinks. They never have and never will. They will continue to go on their way and in time, this whole “thing” will disappear. Just like Ms. Shaui and her entire family. If history is anything to go by, once they’re done with their show and tell, she and her family will either be shoved to the farthest corner of the country or executed. There is no in between for them
They may not care what we think, but I bet they care about our $$$. That’s why this WTA move is so important. I’m really hoping the ATP and IOC will follow suit. (Although I’m not counting on the IOC to do the right thing.)
We can at least, as citizens, boycott anything associated with the upcoming Olympics, don’t watch on any platform, don’t buy any merchandise, etc., etc.
Andy Roddick praised the decision on Twitter and pointed out that the WTA cannot afford to do this as much as other richer leagues could. I think that was great of him to point that out as a way of maybe shaming the ATP into action.
“I am also greatly concerned about the risks that all of our players and staff could face if we were to hold events in China in 2022.”
I think this is a big part of the decision as well. If you speak against the Chinese government’s response to Ms Shaui you don’t then want to travel to their territory.
I’m so glad you’re covering this! And yeah that’s like 1/3 of WTA’s profits. Amazing because so many others only care about money.
Most people understand that this woman was not lying when she said what she originally said. This situation Peng Shuai and her family are being put through is just horrifying on so many levels.
Terrified for her and family and anyone the government may think is involved. She was deeply brave.
It’s time for the NBA to disassociate themselves from China completely and finally.
Yes…..but I wont hold my breathe
Every democratic nation needs to demand an investigation into the rape, the cover-up, the abduction and whatever is being done to Peng Shuai and her family right now. Nobody can let this stand. Don’t stop posting about it.
Shuai’s bravery in speaking out, knowing very well that doing so would likely have grave consequences, brings tears to my eyes. The emotional pain must have been unbearable for her to risk everything like she did.
I will not be watching the Winter Olympics. I want no part, however small, in an event that is being used to gloss over a survivor’s suffering. And I would never ask or expect an athlete to give up a dream they’ve been working towards their entire lives, but I hope they find some way to acknowledge Peng Shuai. Maybe a small badge or something (and since many Chinese athletes at the last Summer Olympics got away with wearing badges in honor of a man who was responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people, the IOC better not say shit about it). I hope there’s also a diplomatic boycott. If Biden does send a delegation, perhaps he could do something along the lines of Obama sending two lesbian athletes, Billie Jean King and Caitlin Cahow, to represent the US at the Sochi Olympics as a statement against Russia’s homophobic policies. Maybe some of the brave gymnasts who spoke out about their own sexual abuse would be willing to represent us.
Cakeallday, yes to everything you say. It does seem countries, including the U.S. walk around on eggshells with China.
Considering what China does to the Uyghurs, Tibetans, and any other dissidents, is anyone actually surprised by their actions against one woman complaining too loudly about a high profile leader of the party? There are numerous cases of China putting women in their place when they get too popular for the party’s tastes: see Fan Bingbing or Zhang Ziyi. Every time famous celebrities (Richard Gere, Annie Lennox, ect.) get involved to pressure China into freeing Tibet, China doesn’t even blink an eye. They laugh at our naïveté and ideals. Some with financial interests in China such as Jamie Dimon or John Cena will kowtow for the faux pas they didn’t even realize they had made in the face of almighty China.