WTA CEO Steve Simon, during an interview, told about him about the Shuai Peng‘s issue and the future of tennis in China and the Simona Halep‘s doping ban. An unsolved issue for Simon, with an underlying cause troubling him and the players alike, is when the tour events, including the WTA Finals, will return to China.
A year ago, the WTA suspended all tournaments in that country due to concerns about the safety of Peng Shuai, a former doubles Slam champion who accused a former Chinese government official of violence against her. Simon would have wanted a full and transparent investigation into her allegations and a chance for the tour to communicate with her, but neither has happened yet.
He said: “We hope we will go back to China, but obviously we have some problems to solve.” He listed two: Peng’s situation and persistent restrictions on the coronavirus: “We have to solve Peng. We are sure that you are safe and we know that you are in Beijing, which is great.
We want it. But we haven’t received the assurances we want about the investigation we requested. What’s the real story? That’s all we asked. What’s the story? Obviously she had a lot of courage to come forward with what she said.
The principles involved are in line with what we stand for as an organization. And what we asked for is an investigation to understand what happened, what didn’t happen and then deal with it appropriately.”
WTA CEO: “Truth will come out on Simona Halep’s doping ban”
The location of the WTA Finals in Fort Worth wasn’t announced until September, the schedule that placed it just before the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Scotland next week drew some criticism, and there were thousands of empty seats.
during the first two days of competition. Simon called it a last minute destination and called the place probably a little big for us, but a beautiful arena. Simon also said he spoke to Simona Halep, the two-time Grand Slam champion.
provisionally suspended after testing positive for a banned substance at the August US Open: “I believe she didn’t do something intentionally. That said, I strongly believe in our anti-doping program, and I think it’s good, and our players support it too.
And if you ask Simona, she supports it. I am very confident that as we move forward in the process, the truth will come out and we will address it accordingly. But I have a lot of sympathy for Simona, because I would never question her integrity.”