It's official: the professional women's tennis circuit will return to China this year, after two years of absence. The Professional Women’s Players Association (WTA) announced in a press release: “ The WTA lifts the suspension of the organization of tournaments in China, where tournaments will resume this September. End of the parenthesis, then. But the dispute is still not resolved. As a reminder, the WTA had made the decision to no longer organize tournaments in China in 2021, after the outbreak of the Peng Shuai affair. The former Chinese player, who accused a senior Communist Party leader of a sexual encounter “ strength ", was then nowhere to be found. Since then, she has made several public appearances, including during the Beijing 2022 Winter Games (pictured above). But the WTA recognizes it today: “ The situation has shown no signs of changing.” in that case. The women's tennis organization once again asked the Chinese authorities, last January, to be able to discuss " in private " with the former player. The request was not granted. But the WTA explains it: “ We concluded that we will not fully achieve our goals and that it will be our players and our tournaments that will pay the price."
