Sunday 19th December 2021
“Dictatorship still a reality”
In the case of Peng Shuai, Zverev relies on ATP
The concern for the Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai remains high. Although IOC President Bach recently declared that everything was fine, hardly anyone wants to believe that. The women’s organization WTA has suspended tournaments in China. Olympic champion Zverev is now also expressing himself on ZDF.
Olympic tennis champion Alexander Zverev hopes that the men’s professional organization ATP will take action in the case of the Chinese player Peng Shuai as soon as more information is available. The third in the world rankings left open on Saturday evening in the ZDF’s “Current Sports Studio” whether he would support the suspension of tournaments in China, as announced by the women’s organization WTA. The ATP has not yet commented in this direction.
“I’m not a politician, I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but we all don’t know that,” said Zverev. “I hope that more will come to light at some point and then hopefully the ATP will say something about it and hopefully do something.”
Peng Shuai, the former world number one in doubles, published allegations of sexual assault by a top Chinese politician on the Weibo social network in early November. The post was deleted soon after. Since then, athletes, politicians and human rights activists have expressed concern for the tennis player’s well-being. The German IOC President Thomas Bach had spoken to her on video channels.
Basically, Zverev said about the case: “We live in 2021, and we live in Germany, and we think there is no longer anything like this in the world. But this case of course shows that dictatorship is still the reality in this world. ” He just hopes that Peng Shuai is doing well, that she is safe and healthy and that she can hopefully be able to play tennis again soon.
After Olympic gold and victory at the ATP Finals, Zverev is considered a promising contender for the honor of Germany’s athlete of the year. The award will be given this Sunday evening (ZDF from 10:15 p.m.). In view of the many successes of German athletes, the honor would mean a lot to him, emphasized the 24-year-old native of Hamburg.