On this newest instalment, Jamie – a a number of Grand Slam champion in each males’s doubles and blended doubles – provides his view on the regarding scenario involving Chinese language doubles specialist Peng Shuai, earlier than additionally discussing the newest Battle of the Brits developments.
A lot of the media protection of tennis in latest weeks has been centered on China’s Peng Shuai and the way she has allegedly been handled by the authorities in her nation after accusing a high official of sexual assault.
As we transfer nearer to the much-anticipated Schroders Battle of the Brits – Scotland versus England occasion at P&J Stay later this month, tennis hero Jamie Murray continues to serve up a sequence of unique columns for the Press and Journal.
It was regarding to look at as numerous our bodies tried to substantiate Peng’s whereabouts, and there are nonetheless considerations excessive doubles participant’s security.
From the 2 Excursions’ perspective, it’s clearly an extremely troublesome scenario – particularly for the WTA.
A lot of the ladies’s Tour relies in China, with so many occasions there – together with their Tour finals and certainly one of their 4 premier competitions – and a big quantity of funding.
Nonetheless, the WTA have determined their stance shall be to chop off ties with the nation. It’s a huge transfer they usually have made an announcement by doing this.
By way of the ATP Tour, there are fewer occasions in China. There’s the Shanghai Masters, Beijing and a few different issues, and I don’t understand how it will play out on the boys’s facet of the sport.
Thus far, the stance of ATP officers has been to attempt to proceed to have interaction, with an announcement from the Tour studying: “having a world presence provides us the very best likelihood of… making an affect”. Equally, the Worldwide Tennis Federation (ITF) – the game’s governing physique – have mentioned, though they “stand in help of girls’s rights”, they don’t wish to “punish a billion individuals” by suspending all skilled tournaments and grassroots work in China.
It’s exhausting to say what the right strategy is, and we must wait and see whether or not the WTA’s hardline choice to drag girls’s skilled tennis out of China makes a distinction. I simply hope this unhappy scenario is resolved quickly, and Peng is secure, properly and may get again to her regular life, together with tennis.
I performed blended doubles with Peng on the Australian Open a few decade in the past. We determined to play collectively proper on the deadline, so we didn’t have a lot time to get to know one another, though I already knew her coach slightly bit.
She appeared very nice and was all the time smiling, however the language barrier was one other issue which prevented us having an excessive amount of in the way in which of communication on the courtroom. Peng’s English wasn’t nice – and my Chinese language is horrible!
I loved enjoying together with her although.
As I mentioned, I hope the scenario resolves itself quickly and Peng can get on together with her life and profession.
Tuesday marks two weeks earlier than Battle of the Brits – Scotland v England begins at P&J Stay in Aberdeen.
