The story of Peng Shuai has gathered pace over the last week or so with the #WhereIsPengShuai movement seeing many tennis players and those involved in the sport fearing for the safety of the Chinese tennis star.
This after she spoke out and accused a former vice premier involved in the Chinese government of sexual assault.
The WTA released a statement calling for the end to censorship of Shuai as well as a full investigation into her allegations.
But many were left dissatisfied as to the WTA's response in trying to find her but alas this doesn't seem to be the case.
Christopher Clarey, a prominent tennis journalist for the New York Times spoke to WTA chief Steve Simon further who revealed while not talking to her directly, he has received assurances that she is safe.
"We've had all of our contacts and all of our team on the tour that has had contact and relationships with her through the years reaching out. We've also reached out to all our WTA athletes from the region that we feel would have relationships with her," said Simon to the NY Times.
"We've heard the same from everybody, that they haven't been able to reach her directly. All the sources are that she's fine and doing okay and isn't under any threat, but we have not been able to speak with her directly to this date. I'm not aware of anybody that has at this point and time."
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Some more detail from WTA chief Steve Simon from our interview about Peng Shuai. He talked about the tour's efforts to reach her directly:
nytimes.com/2021/11/14/spo…