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However, Simon said no one connected with the WTA Tour, including officials and active players, could reach him directly to confirm his status.
“I understand he’s in Beijing in China but I can’t confirm that because I haven’t spoken to him directly,” said Simon.
Martina Navratilova, a former #1 player, was among the tennis stars who supported the WTA Tour’s request to take action over Peng’s accusations. Navratilova wrote on Twitter, “A very strong stance of the WTA and a correct stance”.
However, Simon acknowledged that the tour may have had little impact on Chinese officials.
“Unknown,” he said. “I don’t think I’m going to sit here and solve the world’s problems in any way. But what I want to do here is we have an athlete who is part of the WTA family who came out with serious allegations. We will support this 100 percent and would like to see a full investigation into this. If that’s not the case and they’re not cooperating, we’re going to have to make some decisions and we’re prepared to do that and that’s the best we can do. However, we will not back down from this position. It’s the right place to be.”
Chinese authorities retaliated against sports leagues when faced with criticism from outside. In 2019, NBA broadcasts on Chinese public television were temporarily suspended when Daryl Morey, a former Houston Rockets executive currently with the Philadelphia 76ers, tweeted in solidarity with the pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. The league’s commissioner, Adam Silver, later said the fallout cost the league hundreds of millions of dollars. Last month, Boston Celtics games Withdrawn from the Chinese internet After one of the team’s players, Enes Kanter, described Chinese President Xi Jinping as a “brutal dictator” on social media.
“Look, I can’t speak to the decisions the NBA has made,” Simon said. “Obviously they had different issues. But in this case, the WTA issue concerns the possible sexual assault of one of our players. That is simply something that cannot be compromised. And I think if you look at our world today and the way decisions are made, there are a lot of decisions that are compromised.”
The WTA Tour has focused more and more on the Chinese market over the past decade, culminating in a 10-year deal to hold the tour finals that began in Shenzhen in 2019. Simon said Chinese organizers plan to invest “more than a billion dollars”. including the cost of a new stadium, the life of the deal, and double the event’s prize money to $14 million. However, like most Chinese tournaments, the 2020 finals were canceled due to the pandemic. None of the 11 planned WTA tournaments in China took place this year, as China continues to restrict foreigners’ entry into the country. WTA has managed to fill gaps in the calendar with new or temporary events, often with smaller wallets. The WTA Finals, which conclude on Wednesday, have moved to Guadalajara, Mexico, where prize money is relatively low at $5 million but where enthusiasm and crowds are substantial.
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