The Peng Shuai case is far from resolved, but the return of women’s tennis tournaments in China will still happen this season. The WTA refused the imposed sanction, and a figure inside the world circuit explains what we all felt: the need for money led to this controversial decision.

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In November 2021, Peng accused former Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault in a social media post that was quickly removed from the Internet. She later denied the allegations.

There were whole campaigns (many WTA players joined them) demanding justice and truth in the Peng Shuai case from the Chinese, but little by little the voices died down.

Although they look like “fools”, financially the WTA leaders have no choice

The sexual assault incident mentioned by Peng Shuai in November 2021 led to the cancellation of all WTA tournaments in China.

As I have written before, the decision can be easily attacked, given the fact that until recently China had a “zero Covid-19” strategy, but the events could not take place on the territory of an Asian country anyway (see the example in Formula 1, where this year the Chinese GP will not take place, but the FIA ​​will not impose any ban on Asians).

Answering questions about the WTA’s decision to return to China, Tomas Petera (52 years old – the organizer of the tournament in Ostrava) clarified some points.

The representative of the WTA 500 category tournament told the truth: the forum, which deals with the fate of world women’s tennis, made such a decision because of the urgent need for money.

While most fans criticized the decision, pointing the finger at China and its complete lack of transparency in the Shuai Peng case, Pietera says we shouldn’t be too surprised by the WTA’s move to return to Asian tournaments.

“I think the management really had no choice. It’s about money, and the WTA has no money. That’s why they decided to come back, even if they look like fools in view of the events that took place,” – Thomas Peterin an intervention for Tenisportal.

China, money factory for WTA

Since the 2015 season, China has become an important partner of the WTA. In addition to the many tournaments held in this country, it should also be noted that in 2018 the WTA signed an important ten-year contract to host the Tournament of Champions in Shenzhen.

In 2019, Ashley Barty, who has now retired from the sport, won $4.4 million after winning the Tournament of Champions in Shenzhen.

It remains the largest check ever cashed in the history of tennis (both women’s and men’s) for a tournament win. Even the big tournaments (Grand Slam) cannot (now) offer such a financial recipe.

According to the International Tennis Federation, in 2021 China will boast at least 50,000 tennis courts and about 20 million registered players nationwide (second only to the US).

China currently has five players in the WTA TOP 100: Qinwen Zheng (24th), Shuai Zhang (28th), Lin Zhu (39th), Xinyu Wang (60th) and Xiyu Wang (65th).