‘Everyone is waiting’ – Peng Shuai disappearance still concerning tennis world, admits Naomi Osaka
NAOMI OSAKA says the tennis world are still waiting to hear about Peng Shuai’s whereabouts.
Former Wimbledon doubles champion Shuai, 36, made sexual allegations against an ex-government official – but later retracted those comments.
The IOC held two video calls with her but the WTA, the governing body for women’s tennis, have failed to make any contact with the Chinese star.
Tennis stars rallied to her cause when it was felt she had been silenced by the Chinese state.
Only a few westerners have managed to speak with Peng since she made the explosive claims on November 2.
Osaka, 24, beat Colombian Camila Osorio 6-3 6-3 in the Australian Open first round and will now face American Madison Brengle in the next round.
The defending champion said: “I haven’t heard any news.
“I’m not sure if that’s concerning or not. But I think the WTA, the whole organisation, they handled it really well.
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“I’m really proud of them. I feel like it’s a situation where we need more information, which is definitely really hard.
“I think everyone is waiting.”
Speaking at a skiing event in Shanghai last month in her first media interview since the claims, Peng denied she was under surveillance or having her movements restricted.
Peng told pro-Beijing Singapore newspaper Lianhe Zaobao: “Why would there be someone keeping watch on me? I’ve always been very free.
“I want to emphasise one point that is really important. I never said or wrote that I was sexually assaulted.
“And I think that everyone has a lot of misunderstandings of what happened. All those twisted misinterpretations are simply not true.”
The WTA – who have suspended their tournaments in China – said it welcomed her appearance ‘in a public setting’ but that it did not ‘alleviate or address… concerns about her wellbeing and ability to communicate without censorship or coercion’.
It added: “We remain steadfast in our call for a full, fair and transparent investigation… into her allegation of sexual assault, which is the issue that gave rise to our initial concern.”
Shuai won the Wimbledon ladies’ doubles title in 2013 and 2014 French Open with Hsieh Su-wei and reached the world No1 ranking in 2014.
In singles, she reached the fourth round at the All England Club three times and the 2014 US Open semi-finals.