Where is Peng Shuai?

graycrait

graycrait

Legend
www.espn.com

WTA: China return requires resolution over Peng

The return of WTA tournaments to China in 2023 will hinge on a resolution to the Peng Shuai issue, with the governing body of the women's game telling Reuters on Wednesday it had still not met the Chinese former doubles world number one personally.
www.espn.com www.espn.com

Is she dead? Is she in a gulag? Is she under house arrest? Is she going to show for AO? What the hell is happening? If she has been disappeared, when does the sports washing begin, aka Saudi Arabia sort wash Khashoggi murder?
 
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Bartelby

Bartelby

Bionic Poster
The report states unequivocally that the WTA "had received confirmation that Peng Shuai was safe and comfortable".

China doesn't want the WTA back in all probability, so they've lost that market.

The ATP has a full calendar after the USO, whereas the WTA has only one event. They've lost the China market, the ATP has not.
 
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S

sureshs

Bionic Poster
The Blond Blur

The Blond Blur

G.O.A.T.

Where is Peng Shuai?​

The CCP:

main-qimg-06ef42edeb40c94a33325c277d314b64
 
NonP

NonP

Legend
Looks like you can blame the "Similar threads" feature for this bump cuz the latest article (from reputable sources) I could dig up is this AP explainer from April:

apnews.com

Why is women’s tennis China boycott over Peng Shuai ending?

The women’s professional tennis tour is ending its suspension of tournaments in China that was initiated in late 2021 over concerns about Grand Slam doubles champion Peng Shuai’s well-being. The WTA announced Thursday that it will return to competition in China this season, even though two of...
apnews.com apnews.com

Obviously receiving "assurances from people who are close to her" isn't the same as hearing from Peng herself. No wonder the reactions weren't very kind:

www.theguardian.com

Tennis’s support for Peng Shuai has turned to dust with WTA’s China U-turn | Tumaini Carayol

The power of money has won out again as the game’s ruling body has decided to depart from its previous principled approach
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

That said Wertheim's measured take (and I don't say that as a fan) strikes me as a healthy middle ground. Of course the very notion that the CCP would ever acquiesce to a tennis organization's demand for transparency was absurd on its face and the WTA erred in making it in the first place, but it's hard to fault them for reversing their hardline stance when Serene and Ash called it quits and Naomi's star faded in an already tough market decimated by the pandemic.

If Simon and his WTA colleagues truly believe in the bodily autonomy of their players they should keep insisting on a face-to-face meeting with Peng herself, but this is where it gets... interesting. Key snippet from an older Wertheim piece:

The WTA responded with forcefulness. Multiple sources tell Sports Illustrated that the strategy was guided largely by sports consultant Ari Fleischer—a former George W. Bush White House spokesman and a staunch and vocal skeptic of China. This was when the WTA laid down its line: There would be no women’s tennis events held in China unless the CCP conducted a full and fair investigation into Peng’s allegations. (Fleischer did not respond to comment requests for this story.)
Click to expand...
Our resident tankies will surely take that as proof the WTA's "boycott" was a political stunt from the start, while others will point out that Fleischer was acting in his private capacity and there's no evidence of an organized anti-CCP campaign from the White House and its allies. Of course I know better and will add that you either stand up for the basic freedoms of speech, association and movement or you don't. No one should be forced to go through what Peng did and that's the heart of the matter which has gotten muddied in this mess. Blaming Simon or Peng's fellow tennis players misses the mark when the real culprit holds the purse.
 
T

tennis3

Hall of Fame
Everyone has their prejudices on this (or any issue). Everyone will find the "proof" they need to support their particular prejudices, reading the "tea leaves" in any way that suits them.

The video above is laughable. He basically doesn't know anything, but it doesn't stop him from drawing the predictable conclusions his audience expects. It's more a lesson in rhetoric than anything else.
 
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Bartelby

Bartelby

Bionic Poster
NonP said:
Looks like you can blame the "Similar threads" feature for this bump cuz the latest article (from reputable sources) I could dig up is this AP explainer from April:

apnews.com

Why is women’s tennis China boycott over Peng Shuai ending?

The women’s professional tennis tour is ending its suspension of tournaments in China that was initiated in late 2021 over concerns about Grand Slam doubles champion Peng Shuai’s well-being. The WTA announced Thursday that it will return to competition in China this season, even though two of...
apnews.com apnews.com

Obviously receiving "assurances from people who are close to her" isn't the same as hearing from Peng herself. No wonder the reactions weren't very kind:

www.theguardian.com

Tennis’s support for Peng Shuai has turned to dust with WTA’s China U-turn | Tumaini Carayol

The power of money has won out again as the game’s ruling body has decided to depart from its previous principled approach
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

That said Wertheim's measured take (and I don't say that as a fan) strikes me as a healthy middle ground. Of course the very notion that the CCP would ever acquiesce to a tennis organization's demand for transparency was absurd on its face and the WTA erred in making it in the first place, but it's hard to fault them for reversing their hardline stance when Serene and Ash called it quits and Naomi's star faded in an already tough market decimated by the pandemic.

If Simon and his WTA colleagues truly believe in the bodily autonomy of their players they should keep insisting on a face-to-face meeting with Peng herself, but this is where it gets... interesting. Key snippet from an older Wertheim piece:
Click to expand...
The WTA responded with forcefulness. Multiple sources tell Sports Illustrated that the strategy was guided largely by sports consultant Ari Fleischer—a former George W. Bush White House spokesman and a staunch and vocal skeptic of China. This was when the WTA laid down its line: There would be no women’s tennis events held in China unless the CCP conducted a full and fair investigation into Peng’s allegations. (Fleischer did not respond to comment requests for this story.)
NonP said:
Our resident tankies will surely take that as proof the WTA's "boycott" was a political stunt from the start, while others will point out that Fleischer was acting in his private capacity and there's no evidence of an organized anti-CCP campaign from the White House and its allies. Of course I know better and will add that you either stand up for the basic freedoms of speech, association and movement or you don't. No one should be forced to go through what Peng did and that's the heart of the matter which has gotten muddied in this mess. Blaming Simon or Peng's fellow tennis players misses the mark when the real culprit holds the purse.
Click to expand...
 
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