The women’s professional tennis tour is immediately suspending all tournaments in China, including Hong Kong, in response to the disappearance from public life of the tennis star Peng Shuai.
The move comes one month after Peng claimed on her social media channels that she was sexually assaulted by a top member of the Chinese government. The Chinese government quickly moved to scrub its internet of all mentions of the incident and all discussion of Peng, who disappeared from public life for more than two weeks.
Peng, a Grand Slam doubles champion and three-time Olympian, resurfaced late last month in a series of appearances with Chinese officials, including in a video conference with Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, which will bring the Winter Games to Beijing in February.