(Beijing) The WTA, which governs world women’s tennis, is ready to engage in a standoff with China, at the risk of its financial interests, by threatening to withdraw from the country after the disappearance of the champion Peng Shuai.
Before COVID-19, the Women’s Tennis Association hosted 10 tournaments each year in China (out of more than 60), including its most lucrative end-of-season Masters in Shenzhen. Tournaments worth a total of $ 30 million.
The organization made its voice heard after the disappearance of Peng Shuai, a former world No. 1 in duplicate, who accused a former senior Chinese Communist Party official, Zhang Gaoli, in early November of having notably forced her to make a report. sexual.
The WTA has called for a “transparent and fair” investigation into the charges. Its CEO, Steve Simon, also threatened Thursday, on CNN, to withdraw its competitions from the country.
“We are completely ready to withdraw (from China) our activities and face all the complications that arise from it,” said the boss of women’s tennis. “Because it’s (these accusations) more important than business,” Simon told the US television station.
Mr. Simon further questioned the authenticity of an email attributed by Chinese media to the player, in which she intended to reassure her fate and withdrew her accusations against Mr. Zhang. “I don’t believe that’s the truth at all,” Simon said.
The UN is positioning itself
The WTA’s position was bolstered by the UN, which on Friday asked for evidence that Peng Shuai “was doing well,” as well as a “transparent investigation into his allegations of sexual assault,” said one. spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Liz Throssell, at a press briefing in Geneva.
The WTA’s stance risks angering China, several experts told AFP, in view of the country’s reprisals against other sportsmen critical of the regime.
Chinese tech giant Tencent’s sports platform no longer broadcasts Boston Celtics NBA games after one of its basketball players, Enes Kanter, called President Xi Jinping a “brutal dictator” and condemned China’s policy in Tibet .
The NBA had lost $ 200 million when Daryl Morey, then general manager of the Houston Rockets, tweeted in 2019 his support for protesters in Hong Kong.
In view of these events, the position of the WTA is “very unusual,” said Simon Chadwick, sports finance specialist at EMlyon Business School. “Chinese authorities don’t like being told what to do. ”
According to the American magazine Sports Illustrated, China accounted for a third of the WTA’s income before the pandemic, a figure disputed by Steve Simon. “We get a lot of income from China,” he simply told Time magazine.
A calculated risk?
But, in a context also marked by the possibility of a diplomatic boycott by the United States of the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February, the WTA is perhaps taking a calculated risk. Women’s tennis is less dependent on the Chinese market than the NBA, which is very popular in China, according to Mr. Chadwick.
Especially since Beijing has few means of pressure towards the organization: the competitions have already been suspended for two years due to an epidemic. And women’s tournaments don’t look set to return to China given the extremely strict health regulations in the country.
The WTA “has learned to live without China,” according to Mark Dreyer, of the China sports insider site, “the consequences of its stance are less important today than they could have been in the past.”
Authorities could take a less intrusive approach, such as preventing Chinese netizens from commenting on matches abroad, Chinese tennis blogger Ouyang Wensheng said.
In recent days, figures in world tennis have expressed their concern for Peng Shuai on Twitter, under the hashtag #WhereIsPengShuai (“Where’s Peng Shuai?”).
Chinese censorship has removed any trace of the player’s accusations on social networks. The post originally posted on Weibo was removed quickly and AFP could not verify its authenticity.
Since then, the player has not directly communicated or made a public appearance and Zhang Gaoli has never publicly reacted to the accusations against him.
Chinese authorities, the National Tennis Federation and the WTA have not responded to AFP’s requests.