WTA: Steve Simon - The man who messes with China
In the Peng Shuai case, WTA boss Steve Simon has shown a clear edge. And earned a lot of praise for it. That was not always so.
by Jörg Allmeroth
last edit: Dec 03, 2021, 03:18 pm
It was just over a year ago when Steve Simon was once again caught in the crossfire of criticism in his own WTA family. In autumn 2020, the corona pandemic shook professional tennis massively, albeit with a small difference. While the male ATP tour busily improvised and stamped new dates and tournaments everywhere, not least in Cologne, almost nothing moved in women's tennis. Behind the scenes there were even calls to resign from Simon, a rather bland, uninspired American in his mid-sixties, Germany's long-time national coach Barbara Rittner accused the WTA of "indolence", national player Laura Siegemund stated that she had become "virtually jobless".
When, on the evening of December 1, 2021, an official statement from Simon (66) was distributed to thousands of addresses worldwide, the Californian WTA boss and his player organization suddenly appeared in a whole new light. Clearly, resolutely and uncompromisingly, Simon explained in the memorable, almost historical dispatch why the WTA wanted to “suspend all tournaments in China with immediate effect”: “I cannot in good conscience ask our athletes to compete there if Peng Shuai is not allowed to speak freely and was apparently pressured to withdraw their allegations of sexual assault. "
"The WTA saves the soul of sport"
It was the preliminary climax of an affair that began with the serious allegations of abuse by the 35-year-old former world number one against the former Chinese Vice Prime Minister Zhang Gaoli. Which had continued with widespread censorship of the case in the gigantic empire and an international outcry of outrage over the sudden disappearance of the athlete. Which had led to a strange intervention by the International Olympic Committee and its President Thomas Bach. And which now ended for the time being with a previously unprecedented reaction from a sports association to the Chinese regime. According to Simon's verdict, an internet user put the situation in a nutshell: "Who would have thought that women's tennis and the WTA would save the soul of sport."
Shortly after the sensational decision of the WTA was announced, active and former greats of the sport rallied behind Simon and his colleagues. She congratulates Simon on this decision, wrote the founder of modern women's tennis, Billie Jean King, "We are on the right side of history." Icon Martina Navratilova applauded "that principles were above dollars", called DTB woman Barbara Rittner the procedure "consistently, courageously and correctly." Pete Bodo, one of the most influential US sports journalists, commented on the process as follows: When it came to flying the flag in a crisis, the "real Steve Simon stood up" and demonstrated "What's in him."
Record prize money for Ashleigh Barty
It is still unclear what effects the tough WTA attack will have on other sports associations and in particular the 2022 Winter Olympics in China. But voices have already been raised in men's tennis to join the WTA's preliminary boycott decision and not host any tournaments in China until the integrity and fate of Peng Shuai have been satisfactorily clarified. On the sidelines of the Davis Cup final in Madrid, ATP front man Novak Djokovic said he was fully behind the WTA decision: “This is a courageous position. Peng Shuai's health is of paramount importance to all of us. "
The lights are now going out on the market with which the WTA once linked its greatest marketing hopes for the future. In autumn, China always played the central role in the annual women's tennis calendar, with a total of up to twelve competitions being held there per season. The WTA announced a particularly prestigious deal in 2018 when the season finale was awarded to the southern Chinese economic metropolis of Shenzhen for an entire decade. In 2019, the biggest prize money check in women's tennis history was handed out there at the premiere, with around $ 3.5 million going to the winner Ashleigh Barty from Australia.
Billion Dollar Contract
The contract with the Chinese WTA partners provided for investments of one billion dollars over the ten-year term. It is estimated that the WTA last generated every third dollar of its revenue in China. There is no doubt that the move could have massive financial consequences, said Simon himself, but if you just accept the Chinese approach, “it contradicts the basis on which the WTA was founded”: “That would mean a serious setback. I will not and cannot allow this to happen to the WTA and its players.
Simon and the WTA leadership had repeatedly tried unsuccessfully in the last few weeks to contact the former top player Peng Shuai. The 35-year-old was lost for a long time, however, until state-controlled videos suddenly appeared, on which she could be seen in a restaurant in Beijing or at a youth tennis tournament. At the same time, the Chinese leadership robotically fought against attempts at foreign interference and the “politicization of sport”. Then the Peng Shuai case reached a new low point with an appearance by the top sports official Thomas Bach: Suddenly reports surfaced about a video link between the IOC president and Peng Shuai, during which the tennis player seemed "relaxed" according to the IOC and assured them, " that she is fine ”and that her privacy should be respected. Incidentally, as the IOC minutes read, they wanted to meet for dinner together when Bach was in Beijing in January.
Steve Simon - "We will not give in"
It must have been clear to the top Olympian that this would torpedo the real attempts at clearing up the abuse affair. Bach, however, didn't care in the least that the impression arose that he was almost an ally of the Chinese government - the former world-class fencer and gold medal winner is only concerned with the smoothest possible staging of the Games in Beijing “by all means and without a conscience” next year, a high-ranking WTA official rumbled last week, "what do human rights count?"
Now, however, Bach and his IOC officials have been severely exposed by the professional tour of women's tennis. By Wednesday evening at the latest, when Steve Simon's statement became public, the cunning power man Bach had to say goodbye to an illusion - that the Beijing games could even begin to become the games of a somehow united, harmonious sports family. “Anyway,” said WTA boss Simon on Thursday, “we will not back down on this matter. We are ready to face all the consequences. "