In this file photo taken on October 26, 2016, Women's Tennis Association (WTA) CEO Steve Simon speaks to reporters during a press conference the WTA finals tennis tournament in Singapore. (ROSLAN RAHMAN / AFP)
Steve Simon, head of the Women’s Tennis Association, has something to hide. With all of his criticism about the “disappearance” of China’s top tennis player Peng Shuai, he has not tried to reach out to her, at least not hard enough.
When International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach simply picked up the phone and asked Peng if she was alright. The answer was yes.
But Simon preferred to mix sports with politics and started a worldwide campaign to lambast China for “kidnapping” Peng, without any shred of evidence. He claims he has tried all means to contact Peng, but to no avail. Simon even threatened to pull out all tennis tournaments from China.
Blasting China is good copy for the Western media and Steve Simon, head of the Women’s Tennis Association seems to be using Peng as a weapon against China and the 2022 Olympics. And cynically the tennis fraternity has added oil to the flames at the whim of Simon
The story broke on Nov 16 when Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka said in a tweet reported on Fox News that she had not spoken to Peng for two weeks and feared for Peng’s life. Simon immediately called for an investigation into her “disappearance”, noting she had not been seen since an internet posting regarding her affair with a senior Chinese government official had been pulled, minutes after it was posted.
The International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach called Peng to check it out and found that she was okay. But Simon did not believe the world’s top sports leader and said the 30-minute call lacked transparency. He even accused Bach of colluding with China, host of the 2022 Winter Olympics, to a cover-up on China’s behalf.
Simon called for more evidence that Peng was alive and well, despite her saying so. But he did nothing to seek more evidence. Meanwhile, China-basher Human Rights Watch accused the IOC of being "silent on the Olympian's disappearance.”
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Minky Worden, a director of Human Rights Watch and a former top aide of Hong Kong political activist Martin Lee Chu-ming, who was given in April an 11-month suspended sentence for participating in an unauthorised march in August 2019, said Olympic corporate sponsors had taken no evident steps to press the IOC to adopt human rights that are now standard across the business world. She called on the sponsors to withdraw their support for the Games.
But Bach said that during his conversation, Peng asked for her privacy to be respected. And that is the crux of her “disappearance.” Peng told Bach that she had been at home the whole time when people were presumably looking for her. Critics have accused the IOC for not raising allegations of sexual harassment by Peng, but surely the 30-minute conversation was personal and Bach is not one to give away personal details. For him sports and politics should be separated, but in today’s world that is difficult, especially where China is involved.
Peng has asked Bach and the international community to respect her privacy. The IOC respects that and will say nothing more about her and the phone call. But Simon, on the other hand, does not respect that and is prepared to drag out Peng’s love affair for the world to see and smearing China for good measure.
Blasting China is good copy for the Western media and Simon seems to be using Peng as a weapon against China and the 2022 Olympics. And cynically the tennis fraternity has added oil to the flames at the whim of Simon.
According to a friend of Peng, Peng had e-mailed Simon: At the moment I do not want to be disturbed, and especially (can you) not hype up my personal affairs. I hope to live quietly. Thank you again for your concern.
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Despite that, the clarion call by Simon resonated throughout the tennis world with international stars like Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams calling for a boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
But Peng was never lost. All of the comments were made with no evidence she was being held against her will, except for the word of Steve Simon. CNN reported that Peng even sent an e-mail to the WTA saying she was okay, but Simon doubted its authenticity.
Simon, who rallied such an outcry with no evidence, has been chairman and CEO of the WTA since 2015. In a statement from the WTA headquarters in Florida, Simon said: “I am glad to see the videos released by China state-run media that appear to show Peng Shuai at a restaurant in Beijing. While it is positive to see her, it remains unclear if she is free and able to make decisions and take actions on her own, without coercion or external interference. This video alone is insufficient.”
But he did not mention various photographs of Peng appearing at various official tennis functions, including her autographing giant tennis balls for fans.
Peng won 23 tour-level doubles titles, including at Wimbledon in 2013 and the French Open in 2014. She was a semi-finalist in singles at the US Open in 2014, but has not played at the top tier since the Qatar Open in February of last year before restrictions were imposed for the COVID-19 pandemic. She has played in three Olympics — 2008, 2012, and 2016.
The author is a former chief information officer for the Hong Kong government, a PR/media consultant and veteran journalist. The views do not necessarily represent those of China Daily.