Despite the WTA recently announcing they would be resuming tournaments in China, a senior Chinese researcher at Human Rights Watch has asked the governing body to stick to its principles regarding the incident surrounding Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai.
Yaqiu Wang, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, believes the WTA should not back down from it's previous stance as both the ATP and ITF prepare to return to China for various events.
“I have tremendous sympathy for the WTA because I know it’s losing a lot of money but I have to say it got so much praise for standing up for the values it believes in contrary to a lot of other businesses,” Wang told Reuters in a Zoom interview from New York.
“At the time it happened, I felt very inspired and I really hope it (WTA) can stick to what it said. I understand it’s a lot of money but human rights are more important. Honestly, it should care for its own players."
Wang believes the WTA is changing it's stance due to financial losses it could suffer.
“I still give credit to the WTA for saying what it said, because all businesses expected the market to open. So it took a risk at that time,” Wang added. "If it’s reversed, the message really is the WTA eventually succumbed to business and to profit and the WTA is no different to other businesses. I really wish for this not to happen."
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