The International Tennis Federation (ITF) will hold tournaments this year in China without a decision on the case of Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai. Peng Shuai disappeared from public view shortly after accusing a former senior Communist Party official of sexual abuse in a social media post in November 2021. The ITF has announced that the first tournament will be from June 5 to 11 in Luzhou. The last full ITF season in China was in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The ITF expects the resumption of tournament activity in China for each of the tournaments later this year”, the world federation said in a statement.
The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), which runs the sport’s elite tournaments, has not announced whether it will resume hosting competitions in China. At the end of 2021, WTA Chairman and CEO Steve Simon announced that WTA would suspend all tournaments, including the End-Year final, that was held in China due to concerns about Peng Shuai.
The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is planning several events for later this year in China after canceling tournaments last year due to China’s COVID-19 restrictions.
Peng Shuai gave a low-key interview a year ago during the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, leaving many questions unanswered, and has been largely out of the public eye since then.
Steve Simon has repeatedly called for a “formal investigation” into the allegations made by Puck and has asked to meet with her in person. It is not yet clear if this has happened.
