Peng Shuai serving during a match at the Australian Open on January 15, 2019
(Picture: REUTERS)Djokovic vs the Australian Federal Government. It was the tennis match of the decade, the spectacle we just couldn’t look away from, occupying top spot on the news agenda day after day until the puns (fortunately) ran dry. Usually third place behind football and rugby (and sometimes, shamefully, cricket), tennis rarely makes headlines so as a fan of the sport, despite the circumstances, it was all a bit exciting.
But while we delighted in consuming every incredulous twist and turn of the Djokovic circus, a far more important and troubling tennis story slipped quietly by the wayside.
Rather fittingly, hidden in the obnoxious shadow of an entitled male ego, has been the fate of Peng Shuai, the Chinese tennis star who accused a senior Beijing government official of sexual assault almost three months ago, then virtually disappeared from public life.
Initially, there was outrage. #WhereIsPengShuai trended on social media for days, with celebrities and sports stars alike sharing their concern for the tennis player’s wellbeing. The Women’s Tennis Association came out all guns blazing, taking the unprecedented step of suspending all tennis tournaments in China and calling for an investigation.
Concern for Peng’s welfare was only increased by subsequent stage-managed appearances and a message, relayed via state media outlets, that the sexual assault claim was untrue and all was fine.
However, since mid-December, coverage of Peng has diminished. There has been quiet from tennis organisations and media outlets, and Peng has not been seen or heard from in weeks.
BREAKING - Australian Open security call in police on human rights activists @pakchoi_boi @maxmokchito for wearing “Free Peng Shuai” shirts, try force @pakchoi_boi to take off shirt in public area right next to @naomiosaka training session - the most vocal athlete on Peng Shuai pic.twitter.com/qAPPmEJEZt
— Drew Pavlou For Senate (@DrewPavlou) January 21, 2022
This week, her name has finally, tentatively crept back into the headlines. In a move that has sparked condemnation by none other than 18-time grand slam winner Martina Navratilova, spectators at the Australian Open were last week asked to remove t-shirts and banners emblazoned with the words “Where is Peng Shuai?”, on the grounds that Tennis Australia prohibits “clothing, banners or signs that are commercial or political”. After widespread criticism, including from Australia’s defence minister, the ban was reversed.
While it is common for international sport events to have policies on what organisers deem as political statements (Wimbledon has a similar ban), the volte-face from the international community and tennis organisations regarding Peng Shuai is alarming. It is with remarkable speed that media outlets and sporting bodies alike have decided that Peng Shuai is no longer a priority, to the point where expressing concern for her at a tennis match is prohibited.
But what has changed between now and last November? Why have the hashtags stopped and the outrage quelled? Peng Shuai is still missing. Her wellbeing is uncertain, her whereabouts unknown. This is not, as Tennis Australia seemed to suggest, a political issue, it is a human rights issue.
In the face of this, the initial ban by Tennis Australia looks cold and tone-deaf. It also speaks to a wider pattern of mistaken priorities within tennis governing body decision-making.
Take Djokovic, for example. While the world No 1 was rightly hung out to dry by the Australian Federal Government for his vaccine antics, the decision to deport him was at odds with Tennis Australia’s stance. And the Serb has still not been officially castigated for the egregious super-spreader tournament he hosted across the Balkans in 2020, which saw several players (including him) catch Covid.
Compare this with the treatment of Naomi Osaka, who was fined and lampooned by the French Open, and pushed into withdrawing from the tournament for having the audacity to request not to take part in post-match interviews to protect her mental health. Or the same tournament banning Serena Williams from wearing a catsuit that helped her circulation after almost dying from blood clots during childbirth.
In the hierarchy of perceived tennis sins, how odd that it is “not doing press conferences” and “wearing t-shirts” that invite condemnation, while the ATP remained silent for almost a year about detailed allegations of domestic violence against world No 3 Alexander Zverev, before finally launching an investigation in October 2021 (Zverev has denied the allegations made).
The Beijing Winter Olympics are due to start in less than two weeks. Peng Shuai is a three-time Olympian. That the games will be going ahead as normal, save for a largely symbolic diplomatic boycott, is hugely uncomfortable.
China is a quickly growing market for tennis and other sports, and subsequently athletes and their organisations may be worried about getting on the wrong side of Chinese authorities. But we know that tennis bodies can be outspoken when they want to be. In the case of Peng Shuai, it is high time they amp up the pressure once more.
What do you think should be done about Peng Shuai’s disappearance? Let us know in the comments below.
