The WTA women’s tennis tour has announced details of its return to China this fall.
As the first event since November 2021, a hard court tournament will be held in Guangzhou in mid-September, according to the published WTA second-half calendar. Other tournaments are taking place in Beijing and Zhuhai, among others.
The case of Peng Shuai
There had been no tournaments in China for more than a year and a half because of the Peng Shuai case. In April, the WTA changed course and admitted that it had not achieved all goals such as a direct meeting with Peng Shuai.
Tennis player Peng Shuai accused a high-ranking Chinese politician of sexual abuse on the social network Weibo in November 2021. The post was deleted soon after. Peng later denied making the allegations. State censorship had blocked any debate about it on the Chinese internet. Before the start of the current French Open, WTA boss Steve Simon told “L’Équipe” that the organization knew where Peng Shuai was.
Because of the case, the WTA had also moved the WTA season finale in Shenzhen with the eight best players of the season. The venue for this year initially remained open in the announcement. This took place last year in Fort Worth, USA.