US Open semifinalist Peng Shuai claims that she was sexually assaulted by former Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli. The former doubles world No.1 made those accusations on her official Weibo account on Tuesday, but the post was quickly removed from the social network.
This is the first time that a high-ranking Chinese politician is the subject of a sexual misconduct scandal. Because of Mr. Zhang’ status, everything seemed to have been done to extinguish the fire, so typing in “Peng Shuai” or even the word “tennis” appeared to be censored in search engines in the country.