Women’s tennis is set to return to China after a four-year absence this autumn

Women’s tennis will return to China this fall after a four-year absence for the first time since Peng Shuai’s disappearance, despite lingering concerns about her freedom and safety.

Sportsmail has learned that the women’s tour has decided to bring seven tournaments to China in September and October, followed by the season-ending WTA Finals, which will be held in Shenzhen, with an announcement imminent.

The WTA suspended relations with China and all tournaments scheduled to be hosted in the country in December 2021 in protest over Peng’s apparent disappearance last month, with CEO Steve Simon saying the decision was made to show solidarity with women across the globe. worldwide.

The former world number one in doubles sparked international outrage by penning an explosive 1,600-word essay on the social media platform Weibo, alleging that former Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli repeatedly coerced her into sex over a number of years.

Peng was not seen in public for several weeks after the extraordinary claims, which she later retracted, leading to widespread suspicion that she had been forced to withdraw by the Chinese government.

After several statements from China’s state media denying the allegations, the 37-year-old finally gave an interview to L’Equipe in February 2020 claiming that her social media post was “a huge misunderstanding” and that she was retiring. tennis.

Since briefly appearing in public at the Beijing Winter Olympics, Peng’s whereabouts have remained a mystery, despite repeated attempts by WTA officials to meet her.

When announcing their 2023 calendar towards the end of last year, the WTA only scheduled tournaments up to the US Open in September, with no clarity on whether the world’s top female players would be asked to go to China, which the climax of the season. for several years until Covid led to the cancellation of their 2020 events.

Simon has previously said his organization would only return to China if officials could arrange a face-to-face meeting with Peng, though it’s unclear if this took place.

In January this year, WTA officials said they had received confirmation that Peng was safe, but had yet to meet with her.

The WTA will host tournaments in eight Chinese cities, including Beijing, Guangzhou and Wuhan, before concluding the season in Shenzhen.

While the decision is likely to draw criticism from women’s rights groups, it will provide a huge financial boost to the WTA as the loss of Chinese tournaments had cost the organization hundreds of millions of pounds.