WTA skeptical after Peng retracts sexual assualt allegations

The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has said that appearances in the media by Peng Shuai on Sunday "do not alleviate" its "significant concerns about her well-being".

Peng Shuai was spotted out and about on Saturday and she actually gave a public interview for the first time since the whole situation started. The interview was uploaded by Singapore outlet Lianhe Zaobao. In it, Peng said: "I need to stress one point that is extremely important, I have never said or written that anyone has sexually assaulted me, I have to clearly stress this point."

Earlier in November, however, the former Wimbledon and French Open doubles champion appeared to have done just that against former Chinese vice premier Zhang Gaoli in a post on local social media site Weibo which was later taken down. Peng said the Weibo outburst was a "private matter" that "people have many misunderstandings" about, and added that she had been living in Beijing without supervision while not mentioning Zhang.

Responding to the interview the WTA said in a statemenet:

" We are steadfast in our call for a full, fair and transparent investigation, without censorship, into her allegation of sexual assault, which is the issue that gave rise to our initial concern. It was again good to see Peng Shuai in a public setting and we certainly hope she is doing well. As we have consistently stated, these appearances do not alleviate or address the WTA’s significant concerns about her well-being and ability to communicate without censorship or coercion."