WTA suspends all tournaments in China due to ongoing blackmail of Peng Shuai
- Thread starter Amritia
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MichaelNadal
Bionic Poster
HBK4life
Hall of Fame
Later this week:
“Steve Simon has decided to resign from the WTA to spend more time with his family.”
“Steve Simon has decided to resign from the WTA to spend more time with his family.”
TimHenmanATG
Hall of Fame
WTA = based af.
TripleATeam
G.O.A.T.
Goddamn, well done WTA!
Mediterranean Might
Professional
Glad they had the guts to do it. Nothing but respect
And the ATP too. Let us see if they have the balls.
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
Wow, nothing but courage goes out to the WTA for doing this. Would love to see the ATP follow suit.
NonP
Legend
It was a matter of time. At this point NOT following through on its initial fusillade would've resulted in even more damage to the WTA brand. The lead-up to the Olympics should be interesting to say the least.
As always, and as we saw not too long ago in the stunningly swift victory for the gay marriage advocates, culture dictates politics even though you may get the opposite impression from the scoop-hungry media. Like I've been saying it's no coincidence that it took a women's sports organization to stand up to the CCP machine while the likes of IOC, FIFA and NBA and even the WTA's sister orgs ATP and ITF treaded lightly. Despite its seemingly few tangible gains on the political stage #MeToo has been a galvanizing force around the world, and if Western democracies are having trouble keeping up it's no wonder their autocratic rivals have next to no clue how the worldwide gender dynamics have changed in the last 4-5 years alone. The CCP bureaucrats are only beginning to find out.
As always, and as we saw not too long ago in the stunningly swift victory for the gay marriage advocates, culture dictates politics even though you may get the opposite impression from the scoop-hungry media. Like I've been saying it's no coincidence that it took a women's sports organization to stand up to the CCP machine while the likes of IOC, FIFA and NBA and even the WTA's sister orgs ATP and ITF treaded lightly. Despite its seemingly few tangible gains on the political stage #MeToo has been a galvanizing force around the world, and if Western democracies are having trouble keeping up it's no wonder their autocratic rivals have next to no clue how the worldwide gender dynamics have changed in the last 4-5 years alone. The CCP bureaucrats are only beginning to find out.
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
This truly is an incredibly huge decision from the WTA. The WTA Finals (exact same as the ATP finals) are usually held in China in Shenzhen as well as the China Open (WTA 1000) and the Wuhan Open as well as many other tournaments. Big call by the WTA which shows the concern for Peng Shuai
D
Deleted member 688153
Guest
Richard 12 ounces
vive le beau jeu !
Talk Tennis Guru
no tennis players at the winter olympics would be equivalent to a declaration of war
Nadal_Django
Legend
Terrible decision. China was great supporter of WTA in the last decade. The Chinese tennis fans will be disappointed.
TimHenmanATG
Hall of Fame
Yeah, there are so many countries who can enthusiastically host this kind of event, without the "yes, sir, sorry, sir" tugging of the forelock bs which comes with hosting the event in a country like China.
NonP
Legend
I've made this point before but the CCP henchmen were no doubt wondering WTF they'd gotten themselves into well before this became part of wall-to-wall media coverage worldwide. Peng is simply not a high-value target to lose this much face over, but they seriously underestimated #MeToo's international scope and equally overestimated their power to influence worldwide opinion with their brutally effective domestic propaganda.
And after doubling down and then tripling down with the tacit complicity of the IOC they're slowly realizing the utter folly of trying to export their top-down model to the world with no appetite for it. If it's usually the West that falsely assumes money trumps ideology in every part of the world it's now the CCP's turn to learn the limitations of that same maxim the hard way.
Though I'm mighty heartened by this announcement chances are there will be some belt-tightening at first, LOL.
N
Nuclear
Guest
the audacity
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
Judging by the crowds at Chinese tournaments, not sure any fans would care or be impacted.
D
Deleted member 748597
Guest
Didn't expect this.
NonP
Legend
Not sure I saw a single nom in the TTW Awards thread for the WTA vs. the CCP as the rivalry of the year. That was gonna be my pick by a landslide, but now that landslide has turned into a veritable earthquake, LOL.
Judging by the crowds at Chinese tournaments, not sure any fans would care or be impacted.
That certainly factored into their decision, too. As I've been saying people are making the glib assumption that the WTA is about to suffer a massive revenue hemorrhage when it's a virtual certainty that the officials also weighed the serious costs of failing to throw their weight behind Peng and thus incurring the wrath of their (female-majority) fanbase. They know what they're doing, and they're indeed playing the long game both morally and financially.
Bartelby
Bionic Poster
Unfortunately the WTA lacked the guts to resist the pressure to politicise tennis as a sport and are now firmly committed to the campaign to disrupt the Beijing Olympics.
And all this despite the fact that Peng is safe and sound, whereabouts known, and in generous contact with international officials.
And all this despite the fact that Peng is safe and sound, whereabouts known, and in generous contact with international officials.
CyBorg
Legend
This story is a big nothingburger and is purely political against China.
GabeT
G.O.A.T.
We finally agree on something! And something actually important to boot. Well said.
Bartelby
Bionic Poster
The WTA are suspending events that are not happening anyway due to covid. And will probably not happen in 2022 due to covid given China's eradication strategy.
So they have in effect lost nothing as yet. There has been no shredding of contracts. And the suspension only has to last as long as the anti-Beijing Olympics push is relevant.
Although China may take legal action against the WTA to terminate their contracts.
So they have in effect lost nothing as yet. There has been no shredding of contracts. And the suspension only has to last as long as the anti-Beijing Olympics push is relevant.
Although China may take legal action against the WTA to terminate their contracts.
Bartelby
Bionic Poster
Long-time International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound has said that the "unanimous conclusion" by those on a call with Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai is that she is "fine."
Given that Dick Pound is not a friend of certain countries his statement is almost definitive.
Given that Dick Pound is not a friend of certain countries his statement is almost definitive.
Amritia
Hall of Fame
It not definitive at all, Beijing are about to hold Winter Olympics and Dick Pound is under intense pressure from the Chinese with clear conflict of interest.
Bartelby
Bionic Poster
CyBorg
Legend
The propaganda push against China is pretty massive in the West. One headline in Canadian media is "should Canada boycott the Beijing Olympics?"
Someone is actually asking this with a straight face while Canada supports repressive regimes abroad and starves its Indigenous population.
wangs78
Legend
People are missing the point that suspending tournaments that already were not being held is a pretty lame action. But from an anti-China PR perspective, it's a great move, bc it fires up a lot of people who don't like China/the CCP. No doubt this move was geared towards embarrassing China ahead of the Winter Olympics.
Kralingen
Talk Tennis Guru
China wouldn’t need to be embarrassed if they didn’t actively cover up sexual assault allegations and make dissidents such as Peng Shuai disappear for weeks on end…
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