Sea of ‘Where is Peng Shuai?’ T-shirts for women’s tennis final

Human rights activists and tennis players alike say Tennis Australia should allow spectators to wear ‘Where is Peng Shuai?’ T-shirts in Melbourne Park if they want to.

A Peng Shuai banner at Melbourne Park. Picture: Twitter

Tennis Australia could be faced with a sea of “Where is Peng Shuai?” T-shirts at the women’s final after players and human rights groups slammed its decision to confiscate clothing expressing concern for her safety.

Max Mok, who was with another activist on Friday when he filmed security officers working for Tennis Australia confiscating her T-shirt, pledged to hand out T-shirts for free to spectators entering the Australian Open on Saturday and said “Let’s see how many people they can block”.

“We are going to print 1000 T-shirts regardless. If we can’t distribute it into the Australian Open, we will distribute it all over the streets,” the 21-year-old said. “If (Tennis Australia) is actually in support of this campaign and Peng Shuai’s personal safety … they would allow us to distribute the (T-shirts) inside and welcome us to go in,” he said.

“I wouldn’t go as far as to request a public statement of support … of course, that’d be nice … but I really doubt it from someone that has taken Chinese sponsorship.”

Queensland-based candidate for the Australian Senate Drew Pavlou, who flew to Melbourne on Monday, said the more than $12,000 raised for the campaign would be used to buy the T-shirts and he dared Tennis Australia to evict that many people.

“To have a sea of people in those shirts so that anyone watching the grand final internationally will see her, they will see Peng Shuai. That’s the dream,” he said.

“We want (TA) to immediately cease their attempt to censor discussion of Peng Shuai at the Australian Open. (We want them) to strongly speak up for Peng Shuai’s safety.”

It came after Mr Mok and another activist had planned to ask Naomi Osaka for support at her training session last Friday but were thwarted by police and ­security.

The campaign in support of tennis player, who briefly resurfaced after she went missing following public allegations she was sexually assaulted by former Chinese vice-premier Zhang Gaoli, was backed by human rights organisation Liberty Victoria. Barrister and Liberty Victoria spokeswoman Gemma Cafarella called on TA to allow attendees to express their views.

“The ability of citizens to freely communicate their views … is a cornerstone of a liberal democracy like Australia,” she said.

“Liberty Victoria’s view is that Tennis Australia’s decision to confiscate the items or ask people to cover themselves up is at odds with principles of human rights,” she said.

Current and past tennis players also slammed Tennis Australia over the incident.

In a social media post, former grand slam champion Martina Navratilova said the move was ”pathetic” and when interviewed on the US-based Tennis Channel, said she found the move “cowardly … This is not a political statement, this is a human rights statement.”

French tennis player Nicolas Mahut in a post said: “What lack of courage! What if you did not have Chinese sponsors?”

Tennis Australia again defended their decision, on Monday saying: “To ensure the Australian Open remains a welcoming, safe and inclusive event for everyone, we have a longstanding policy of not allowing banners, signs or clothing that are commercial or political.”