The Beijing media against the WTA, the world‘s professional women’s tennis association, for the stop to all tournaments in China and Hong Kong after the case of the home star Peng Shuai. “The WTA is forcing Peng Shuai to support the West’s attack on the Chinese system, depriving Peng Shuai’s freedom of expression and demanding that the description of his current situation meet their expectations,” wrote Hu Xijin, director on Twitter. of the Global Times. The WTA said it was dissatisfied with Beijing’s assurances about Peng, the author of a sexual abuse report against former vice premier Zhang Gaoli.
China “strongly opposes the politicization of sport,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin. Meanwhile, world tennis number 1 Novak Djokovic has given his “full support” to the WTA’s decision to suspend his tournaments in China until the Peng Shuai affair is clarified. “We didn’t have enough information,” he explained, on the situation of the tennis player who accused a former Communist leader in her country of sexual abuse.
“I fully support the WTA position because we don’t have enough information about Peng Shuai and his well-being,” said Djokovic on the sidelines of the Davis Cup. “Your health is of the utmost importance to the tennis world. Such a thing must not happen ».