BEIJING -- The head of the women's professional tennis tour questioned the legitimacy of what Chinese state media said was a retraction by Peng Shuai, who has accused a former top government official of sexual assault.
WTA Chairman and CEO Steve Simon said Wednesday that a statement attributed to the Grand Slam doubles champion and tweeted out by CGTN, the international arm of Chinese state broadcaster CCTV -- which said it contained the contents of an email Peng wrote to Simon -- "only raises my concerns as to her safety and whereabouts."
"The WTA and the rest of the world need independent and verifiable proof that she is safe," Simon said. "I have repeatedly tried to reach her via numerous forms of communications, to no avail."
The WTA said it is prepared to pull tournaments out of the country if it doesn't get an appropriate response.
Peng is a 35-year-old from China and a former No. 1-ranked player in women's doubles who won titles at Wimbledon in 2013 and the French Open in 2014.
She wrote in a lengthy social media post earlier this month that a former vice premier and member of the ruling Communist Party's Politburo Standing Committee had forced her to have sex despite repeated refusals.
The post was removed from her verified account on Weibo, a leading Chinese social media platform, and the country's state-controlled media has suppressed all reporting on the case.
Simon, who called Sunday for a full investigation and demanded that Peng not be censored, on Wednesday...
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