At Roland-Garros, the successes of the Chinese player Zheng Qinwen came as a reminder of Peng Shuai’s ongoing captivity. Since its disappearance from the media, the international women’s tennis body has been trying to extricate itself from its financial ties with Beijing.
It has been rather discreet since the start of this Roland-Garros. But thanks to her qualification for the round of 16 (she faces world number 1 Iga Swiatek at the end of the day), Zheng Qinwen, 19 years old and 74th player in the world, is on the way to becoming a star in her country. The return of Chinese tennis to the front of the stage is a reminder of another case: that of Peng Shuai, former world number 1 in doubles. At the beginning of November, the latter published a message on the Chinese social network Weibo accusing the former Chinese Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli of rape. Her text, as well as all discussions mentioning the player, were quickly censored by the Chinese authorities.
“We did not break ties”
For long weeks, the player gave no sign of life, causing concern in the tennis world. The #WhereIsPengShuai hashtag quickly went viral on social media and, in December, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) – the body that organizes women’s tennis around the world – even suspended all professional tournaments in China. International pressure ended up pushing Beijing to bring the player out of her silence. The latter thus granted an interview to a few rare media, including the Team in February, where she officially announced her retirement from the circuit at 36 and denied her own accusations.
In recent months, the mobilization in support of the player seems to have run out of steam, attention having been diverted by the war in Ukraine. But, internally, the sports and tennis authorities are still trying to find out under what conditions the Chinese is retained. The latest news is that the IOC is still in contact with her. “We did not break ties after the Games [de Pékin]explained ten days ago the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, who met her on this occasion. The last contacts with her must go back about two weeks and we are still seeing how she could come and visit Lausanne and particularly the Olympic Museum. As the organization of the tournament explains to Freed, the director of Roland-Garros, Amélie Mauresmo, also tried to bring the former player to the side of the Porte d’Auteuil. In vain.
Unfortunately the expected result is not there. Not for lack of trying
— AmelieMauresmo (@AmeMauresmo) May 10, 2022
On the side of the WTA, discussions are at a standstill. The body has therefore decided to maintain its sanctions: there will be no tournament on Chinese soil in 2022. On the other hand, for the ATP – the male equivalent of the WTA – there are obviously double standards . If on the one hand it has decided to remove the points allocated to Wimbledon in support of Russian and Belarusian players who are not authorized to participate in the London Grand Slam, on the other it intends for the time being to maintain its tournaments in China in September and October if the health situation allows (they were canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid).
Create more mixed tournaments
The WTA’s decision seems all the more courageous as the body was particularly financially dependent on China. Since the coronations of Li Na in the early 2010s, the country has indeed decided to boost its investments in tennis: creation of exceptional infrastructures, recruitment of high-level foreign coaches (Zheng Qinwen, for example, was trained by Carlos Rodriguez, former coach of Justine Hénin who worked with Li Na at the end of his career), increase in the number of competitions on his soil… In difficulty at the time to find partners, the WTA logically jumped on the opportunity. Evidenced by the particularly juicy partnership ($ 1 billion over ten years) passed in 2018 between the body that manages the women’s circuit and the city of Shenzhen to host the Master until 2030.
“On the circuit, we said to ourselves that it was not possible for there to be so many tournaments in Chinaentrusted to Freed Camille Pin, former 61st in the world and consultant for Amazon Prime. At the time, there were financial needs for the players and the whole association, but there, between the Covid and the Peng Shuai affair, the WTA realized that it was not healthy to be so dependent on one country. Little by little, they manage to detach themselves from it. Last year’s Master took place in Guadalajara, Mexico, for example. And we are still waiting for the program at the end of the year, but it will not be in China.
Behind the scenes, a project of rapprochement between the ATP and the WTA is being set up because grafting women’s tournaments to men’s tournaments would allow them to find sponsors more easily and therefore to emancipate themselves from China. This project, advocated by Roger Federer during the first confinementwould consist in organizing mixed Masters 1000 (the most important competitions after the Grand Slams) on the model of Indian Wells and Miami.
Such an overhaul will not happen overnight. But on the circuit, it is viewed favorably, even beyond Chinese dependence. “We have to find the means to make our sport attractive, it’s a priorityexplains to Freed Justine Hénin, former world number 1 and consultant for France Télévisions. If there is a merger project, I think it can only be positive.