Women's Tennis Association to End Boycott of China

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Facts

• The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) announced on Thursday that it will end its boycott of China and hold events in the country this September.¹
• The WTA suspended tournaments in China in 2021 because of concerns regarding player Peng Shuai’s safety after she made a social media post accusing a senior former Chinese government official of sexual assault.²
• Peng’s post was deleted by Chinese authorities and she dropped out of public view immediately afterwards. She attempted to recant her accusation during a controlled interview at last year’s Beijing Winter Olympics — there have been no reports of her being seen in public since.³
• Steve Simon, WTA chairman and CEO, announced the boycott — with the support of the WTA board of directors, players, tournaments, and sponsors — shortly after the Peng post. However, in announcing the end of the suspension, Simon said people close to Peng have provided “assurances” that she’s safe with her family.³
• Simon had called for a “full and transparent” probe of Peng’s allegations at the time but nothing of the sort has yet taken place. According to Simon, the WTA is convinced that the request is “not going to be met,” so the WTA hopes it can make a “positive difference” by resuming tournaments in China.⁴
• The WTA reportedly plans to announce its China schedule in the coming weeks.⁵

Sources: ¹Al Jazeera, ²Reuters, ³Espn.com, ⁴New York Times and ⁵Yahoo sports.

Narratives

• Pro-China narrative, as provided by South china morning post. It’s good to see that the WTA has come to its senses and admitted it made a mistake. The WTA never had the right to demand anything from the Chinese government, especially as Peng publicly rescinded her accusation twice. Holding WTA events in Hong Kong and on the mainland again will be a win-win for tennis and for the people of China.
• Anti-China narrative, as provided by Guardian. The WTA should not be ending its China boycott without the government taking more action in relation to Peng’s condition. However, this conclusion was inevitable because events in China – which accounted for $30M in prize money in the last full season before COVID – are too valuable, and cash is king. It was easy for the WTA to avoid China while COVID was restricting entrance into the country but, once the rules loosened, the WTA was always going to cave.