Missing Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai breaks her silence

The former world No 1 doubles player speaks shortly after her highly choreographed dinner with IOC chief Thomas Bach.

Am Image released by the editor-in-chief of China's state-owned Global Times in November purportedly shows Peng Shuai, sedond from left, at a junior tennis match final in Beijing. Picture: Eyepress / Reuters

Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai has denied making sexual assault allegations against a senior Communist Party leader after she had a supervised meeting in Beijing with International Olympic Committee head Thomas Bach.

Peng – a three-time Olympian and former World No. 1 doubles player and No. 14 singles – also ­indicated she would retire from professional tennis, as concern continues about her ability to leave China.

“I never said anyone had sexually assaulted me in any way,” Peng told the French sports daily L’Equipe in an interview conducted soon after her highly choreographed dinner with Bach on Saturday. “There was a huge misunderstanding in the outside world.”

The dinner meeting with Mr Bach – which included Chinese government officials – had been telegraphed in the months leading up to the Beijing Winter Olympics as the IOC tried to dampen widespread concern about Peng’s situation.

Speaking just before Peng’s ­interview was released, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei said the Communist Party had made it impossible for the former doubles world No. 1 to speak honestly.

“They will make sure she ­behaves exactly according to the party. She may already be thinking she made a mistake in exposing this very deep, dark relationship. She has put her family, friends, career at stake,” said Ai, who left China in 2015 after being imprisoned.

“She has become another person, and whatever she tells you is not true,” he told The Guardian.

In November, Peng wrote an extraordinary note on the Chinese social media platform Weibo in which she claimed to have been raped by Zhang Gaoli, a former member of the Communist Party’s powerful Politburo standing committee.

“Even if I’m like an egg cracking against a rock or a moth to the flame, bent on self-destruction, I will speak the truth about you and me,” she wrote.

China’s censors promptly scrubbed the message from the Chinese internet.

Tennis stars including Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka spoke of their concern for their tour mate, as the hashtag #whereispengshuai trended on the internet beyond China’s Great Firewall. Fans at the Australian Open wore T-shirts to raise the profile of her case.

The head of the Women’s Tennis Association, Steve Simon, said the tour would no longer play in China, its biggest growth market, after failing to get in contact with Peng for weeks.

In her interview with the French sports magazine – at which she was accompanied by Wang Kan, the chief of staff of the Chinese Olympic Committee – Peng said a change with the WTA communication IT system was the reason for the blackout.

“I never thought there’d be such worry, though, and I’d like to know why was that the case?” she said.

Worried about the international outrage ahead of the ­Beijing Olympics, Mr Bach held a supervised phone call with Peng in late November.

On Saturday, Mr Bach met with Peng for dinner within the Beijing Olympics quarantine bubble. Senior Chinese officials were also present.

“We had a nice discussion and exchange,” Peng told L’Equipe.

“He asked me whether I am considering competing again, what my projects are, what I’m planning to do, and so on,” she said.

The first press conference of the Beijing Games was dominated by questions about Peng’s safety, along with concerns about freedom of speech for athletes and the threats of war being made by the Chinese government’s Olympic guest of honour, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Demonstrating the ongoing sensitivity of Peng’s case in China, the interpreter at the news conference did not mention the ­tennis player’s name when translating questions asked about her into Chinese.

Mr Bach said it was not for the IOC to press for an investigation of Peng’s claims of sexual assault.

“It must be her decision,” he said at the press conference, which was held the night before the opening ceremony. “It’s her life. It’s her allegations.”

Mr Zhang had not been mentioned by China’s media since Peng’s allegations were made, until a fortnight ago when President Xi Jinping personally wished him “good health and long life” in his Chinese new year greetings.

Before his retirement, Mr Zhang was in charge of preparations for the Beijing 2022 Games.