TENNIS LEGEND Martina Navratilova on Monday called a decision by Australian Open organisers to prevent fans from wearing “Where is Peng Shuai?” t-shirts “pathetic” as activists pledged to hand them out en masse.
Tournament organisers on Sunday said Peng’s safety was “our primary concern” after video emerged of security staff appearing to order spectators to remove shirts and a banner in support of the Chinese player.
The former doubles world number one is absent from the Grand Slam and there are fears for her wellbeing after she alleged online in November that she had been “forced” into sex by a Chinese former vice-premier during a years-long on-and-off relationship.
Her allegation was quickly censored and the 36-year-old was not heard from for nearly three weeks, before reappearing in public in China. But there are still concerns as to whether she is really free.
“That’s just pathetic. The @wta stands pretty much alone on this!!!” 18-time Grand Slam winner Navratilova tweeted on the t-shirt ban, using the hashtag #WhereisPengShuai.
The Women’s Tennis Association has been widely praised for its stance on Peng, demanding to hear from her directly and suspending tournaments in China.
Leading players at the Australian Open have on several occasions said they still hope to hear directly from Peng so they can be assured of her safety.
French player Nicolas Mahut, who was knocked out of the doubles in the first round at Melbourne, suggested on Twitter that organisers were bowing to corporate sponsorship from China.
“What’s going on!? What lack of courage! What if you did not have Chinese sponsors,” he wrote.
Chinese distillery Luzhou Laojiao is one of the Australian Open’s leading sponsors.
Tennis Australia said on Sunday that under its ticket conditions “we don’t allow clothing, banners or signs that are commercial or political”.
“Peng Shuai’s safety is our primary concern,” a spokesperson added.
“We continue to work with the WTA and global tennis community to seek more clarity on her situation and will do everything we can to ensure her wellbeing.”
A GoFundMe page set up to raise money to print more T-shirts reached its Aus$10,000 (US$7,100) goal within two days.
“We’re printing 1,000 t-shirts and we can see how many match-goers that they can stop,” activist Max Mok told broadcaster ABC.
Big sports fan, but I can’t wait for this tournament to be over, it feels like it’s being going on for months.
@Gordon Larney: Poor you ?!
The inconvenience of this article and it’s content.
What’s the next sporting event that will be worthy of your attention…
@Dulra Cork: no I’m not inconvenienced, just a little tired of the over all handling of the event by the Aussie tennis federation, they haven’t covered themselves in much glory. Imo of course, you ok Duira? You seem a little angry.
@Dulra Cork: sorry Dulra, just realised I didn’t answer the last part of your question, how rude of me. The last 16 of the African nations starts today. So I think I’ll have a look at the Gambia vs Guinea match today, being a Liverpool fan I’d love to see Keita’s Guinea go as far as they can, two evenly matched teams, this one could go to penos. Will you be watching yourself? :)
@Dulra Cork: my bad, Dulra, I said the last 16 started today, when it was actually yesterday, I still can’t believe Tunisia knocked out Nigeria, 1-0, that was some result, I’d say that seen an end to a lot of peoples betting slips!!! :)
Australia has for the last few decades become more dependent on and deeper in thrall to China, which is unfortunate. Ordinary Aussies can show how much they dislike that situation, but they have to prepared to take some discomfort for it. If tennis fans truly cared about the Tennis Australia ban on these t-shirts and messages, they’d boycott the event, picket the Arena so that there was no live crowd on-court and stand outside wearing 10,000 t-shirts. A message that no sponsor or no diplomatic spin would have control over.
I can understand how a sporting event is not really supposed to be political in any way, but at the same time I can understand the other side. It’s a tough one to call IMO.
Australian Open? More like Australian Closed.