Keothavong hopes Peng safe but says WTA's China return good for game's finances

 

[April 14, 2023]  By Shrivathsa Sridhar

(Reuters) -The WTA's decision to end its China boycott over concerns about Peng Shuai will generate much-needed revenue for the women's tennis tour and provide more financial opportunities for players, Britain's Anne Keothavong said.

Former player Keothavong, now captain of Britain's Billie Jean King Cup team, said she hoped former doubles world number one Peng was safe but that ultimately "tennis is a business".

The governing body of the women's game had suspended tournaments in China after Peng stated in a now deleted 2021 social media post that a senior former Chinese government official had sexually assaulted her.

Peng briefly disappeared from public view after her post but made an appearance at the Beijing Winter Olympics last year and conducted an interview with French publication L'Equipe.

On Thursday the WTA, which had sought a formal investigation into Peng's allegations and an opportunity to meet her privately, said the situation showed "no sign of changing" after 16 months of suspended competition.

"From a tennis perspective, hopefully it'll be a welcome return," Keothavong told British media. "I don't know whether they've been able to investigate in the way they would have liked, but tennis is a business.

"The WTA need to generate commercial revenue and the players need a circuit to compete."

China's State Council Information Office and the Chinese Tennis Association did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, when asked about the WTA's resumption of events in China, told a press briefing in Beijing on Friday that it was not a foreign affairs issue and that China always opposes the politicizing of sports.

British player Katie Boulter said there was excitement about more tournaments being added to the schedule.

2022 Beijing Olympics - China's Peng Shuai wearing a face mask watches freestyle skiing during the 2022 Winter Games, Shougang, Beijing, China - February 8, 2022. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch/

China staged nine WTA events with a total prize purse of $30.4 million in 2019, its last full year of operations in the country before COVID-19 travel restrictions.

The WTA was hit hard by the pandemic, posting eight-figure losses in 2020 and 2021 but not as much last year, and will now return to a country in which it is heavily invested.

"I think ultimately there's two things," said Boulter. "One is that we hope Peng is OK and secondly it's just an excitement to have tournaments on the calendar.

"Sometimes we don't have enough tournaments and I hope we can get out there and enjoy it."

A provisional 2023 tournament calendar released last year listed events up to September and an update is expected soon.

Yaqiu Wang, a senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the WTA's decision was a "huge disappointment" and called for Peng's case to be kept in the public eye.

(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Brenda Goh; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

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