On Twitter, Alizé Cornet was the first to echo her concern after the disappearance of the Chinese Peng Shuai (35 years old, former world number 1 in doubles who has not given any sign of life since November 2, after 'she accused former Chinese vice premier Zhang Gaoli of rape).
The Frenchwoman (31 years old; 59th in the world), in a long interview with
L'Équipe
confided her anguish: “
It's worrying and even frightening.
"Before explaining:"
I know players who know her personally and no one has heard from her. I tell myself that if she absolutely wanted to reassure us, she would have done it already. We do not know all the ins and outs of the story but I see that the tennis community is coming together and revolting. There is something heartwarming about this. There is a bit of humanity and it goes way beyond tennis. Everyone is worried. We come together for a cause bigger than sport, it's about people, the safety of one of our colleagues. Everyone has to get started. When I say everyone, I mainly think of high-ranked players. They are the ones who will succeed in making the most noise. Naomi Osaka got down to it, it's very good. Iwait for the best to show up a little more. Their notoriety is also used for that.
"
Before concluding in the columns of
L'Équipe
: “
When there is the slightest risk that a woman's words will be censored, you have to speak up and mobilize yourself so that we have information.
Censorship suffocates people.
I don't want this story to be hushed up.
We'll see how far it goes.
At least people are worried about her and that's all that matters.
We must not let this happen.
That's the lesser of it.
For once, social networks are a useful means, we show that we do not let ourselves be done.
The priority is that she is just fine.
We need to know.
"