Women's tennis chief Steve Simon has said the WTA Tour is ready to lose millions of dollars by pulling out of China if the case of Chinese player Peng Shuai is not properly investigated there.
Peng is said to have disappeared from the public eye and searches for her social media presence and the #MeToo movement have been blocked since she made sexual assault allegations against former Chinese vice-premier Zhang Gaoli on November 2.
China has become a major market on the WTA Tour, with tournaments there including the season-ending WTA Finals in Shenzhen. All events there were however scrapped in 2020 and 2021 owing to the coronavirus.
WTA chief executive officer Simon told CNN in an interview on Thursday that they could reconsider their engagement if no light is shed into Peng's whereabouts and her accusations.
"We're definitely willing to pull our business and deal with all the complications that come with it because this is certainly bigger than the business," he warned.
"Women need to be respected and not censored."
Peng is a two-time doubles grand slam champion and former world number one in the doubles ranking.
On Friday evening, a journalist for Chinese state television CGTN published pictures of Peng on his Twitter account. He said the player shared the pictures on her profile on the Chinese messaging service WeChat on the same day.
In the pictures, Peng was seen playing with a cat and smiling at the camera. When and under what circumstances the pictures were taken could not be clarified at first.
Chinese state media earlier in the week on their English-language channels released an email allegedly from Peng in which she said she was fine and retracted the allegations against Zhang.
Simon expressed doubt whether the mail was authentic and reiterated this stance in the CNN interview.
"Whether she was coerced into writing it, someone wrote it for her, we don't know. But at this point I don't think there's any validity in it and we won't be comfortable until we have a chance to speak with her," he said.
Simon said they have been in contact with Chinese tennis authorities and have tried to contact her on multiple channels but to no avail.
Men's tournaments organization ATP said in a statement on Friday that "developments in recent days in the case of Peng Shuai are deeply unsettling. This issue is bigger than tennis," ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi said.
"Her safety is our most immediate concern and clarity is required on the situation," the statement read.
Tennis governing body ITF also released a statement saying that "player safety is always our top priority and we support a full and transparent investigation."
Tennis greats including Naomi Osaka, Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic are among those who have voiced concern, and so did on Friday the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB).
"Clarity is required over her well-being and her current state," the DOSB tweeted, adding they are following "with concern the events around the Olympian Peng Shuai."
Peng has participated in three Olympic Games but the International Olympic Committee only made cautious comments on the issue on Thursday, saying that "quiet diplomacy" was the best way to find solutions in such cases.
The statement drew an angry reaction from Human Rights Watch which also accused China of human rights violations less than three months before the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Chinese authorities are yet to comment on the fate of Peng.
