Peng Shuai, 35, a former Wimbledon and French Open doubles champion on her Weibo account on 2 November accused retired Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli of pressuring her into having sex. This post was quickly deleted, the athlete's accounts were also removed from the Chinese Internet and social networks. After that, the athlete stopped communicating.
Mainland Chinese media outlets have not reported on the matter. China's biggest search engine Baidu does not show any news items in the past week for the "Peng Shuai" request.
The Women's Tennis Association on Monday demanded a full and impartial investigation into her allegations of sexual assault by the former vice premier and for assurances that Peng was safe. The Association of Professional Tennis Players and World no.1 Serb Novak Djokovic also backed an investigation.