Spanish tennis player Garbine Muguruza, number 3 in the WTA rankings, said on Saturday January 15 that the “real truth” What happened to China’s Peng Shuai may never be known, after she accused a senior politician in her country of sexual assault.
“Are we going to know anything about it? I don’t know, I think it’s a complicated country to manage”, Muguruza told reporters about Peng Shuai and China, which will host the Winter Olympics next month in Beijing.
“It’s not progressing much, I have the impression. And yet it’s been going on for months and months”, said the Spaniard, winner of two Grand Slam tournaments, before the start of the Australian Open on Monday, where Peng Shuai will be absent.
“It looked for a while that we were going to find out what happened, but no. I think it’s going to be very difficult to know the ‘real’ truth and for her to be able to speak freely.”, Muguruza continued.
Last November, in a message published on the Chinese social network Weibo, Peng Shuai, former champion of Wimbledon and Roland-Garros in doubles, had described a sincere but upset romantic relationship with the former top Chinese leader Zhang Gaoli. The player mentioned in particular a “forced” sexual relationship with Mr. Zhang, married and 40 years her senior.
The message was quickly deleted and the former world doubles number 1 had not appeared in public for several weeks, arousing the turmoil of the world of sport, the UN and several countries including the States States and France.
After making global headlines for weeks, the outcry over his fate died down and the tennis world’s attention turned to Novak Djokovic and his Australian visa issues.
In early December, the WTA canceled all of its tournaments in China and called for a transparent investigation into the player’s accusations.. “The WTA did well, at least that’s my feeling“, added the Spaniard. “I think they showed a lot of courage and character in making these strong decisions.”
Australia’s Ashleigh Barty, world number 1, said on behalf of the players and the WTA that their “message has not changed”.