After the mysterious disappearance and reappearance of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai, the WTA suspended China from their tournaments. A big financial gamble.

By Miku Moore – 6th grade.

On November 2, 2021, Peng suddenly went missing after accusing the former vice president of sexual assault in a social posting that was later taken down. Questions were raised as she continued not to be seen anywhere in public. Many tennis players were worried, sending out messages on social media to try and find her. Naomi Osaka began the hashtag #WhereisPengShuai. In her post, writing: “Censorship is never ok at any cost, I hope Peng Shuai and her family are safe and ok, I’m in shock of the current situation and I’m sending love and light her way.” 

As the police investigated, China kept sending emails from her, videos to prove that she was safe and healthy. But that only grew the concerns.  Later, the International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach held a video phone call with Peng. Two mysterious weeks after she disappeared off the face of the earth, she was suddenly found at a Beijing restaurant. Found safe, concerns died down. But, the WTA still suspended China because of “China amid concerns about the safety of the Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai”. 

This led up to many consequences and cost a lot of money. China normally hosts around 10 women’s tournaments and also the WTA finals. But in the importance of human rights, the WTA made a huge risk cancelling and losing billions of dollars. Even in the beginning of 2022, we don’t really know if she’s in full liberty of herself…