Chinese reporter: Missing tennis player Peng Shuai reportedly doing well

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Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai during a match at the 2019 Australian Open

Photo: EDGAR SU / Reuters

Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai published allegations of sexual assault by a top Chinese politician on the Chinese network Weibo at the beginning of November.

Since then, the 35-year-old has not been seen in public and is considered to have disappeared.

Chinese journalists are now claiming that the top athlete is doing well.

Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the state-run Chinese "Global Times" tweeted that she moved "freely" in her apartment and that she would "soon" appear again in public.

Accordingly, she stayed at home so as not to be disturbed.

With his tweet, Hu responded to photos of another Chinese journalist who had visited Peng at home and distributed photos of her.

Peng had alleged abuse of the former Chinese Vice Prime Minister Zhang Gaoli on November 2nd.

The entry was quickly deleted, the former double world number one and double winner at Wimbledon and at the French Open has not been seen in public since then.

Dubious mail

An alleged e-mail from Peng had recently increased concerns: the Chinese state broadcaster CGTN published a screenshot of an e-mail that Peng is said to have written on Twitter on Wednesday.

In it, she stated that her abuse allegations were "not true" and that she was "resting at home and everything is fine".

The Chinese authorities did not comment on Peng's whereabouts when asked.

The Association of Professional Tennis Players (WTA) questioned the authenticity of the mail.

In order to increase the pressure, WTA boss Steve Simon does not rule out withdrawing China tournaments.

Many international tennis professionals have since drawn attention to the Peng case, including Serena Williams.

The administration of US President Joe Biden had also expressed "deeply concerned" about the case.

"We join the call on the authorities of the People's Republic of China to provide independent and verifiable evidence of their whereabouts and their safety," said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki on Friday.

Whether the recordings from Peng's apartment and statements about her alleged well-being are authentic cannot be independently verified.

mrc / Reuters