(Fort Worth) The big boss of the women’s professional tennis circuit, Steve Simon, is standing very close to the action at the WTA Finals this week — he’s sitting in the front row, courtside, and could easily start a discussion with a player in the middle of a match.
But that hasn’t happened so far. And that probably won’t happen. Simon admitted that he interacts with many athletes throughout the year – “I wouldn’t say I’m buddies with all of them; I’m not going to sit on a couch with them…but I think I have a good, courteous relationship” — and listen to their complaints, most of which have come down to one word lately.
“Everyone wants stability,” the WTA Tour President and COO said in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday at Dickies Arena, home of the tournament featuring the world’s top eight players and the top eight doubles teams through next Monday.
One issue, however, annoys Simon, as well as the players, and it consists of the return of the flagship tournament of the circuit, the WTA Finals, in China. A year ago, the WTA suspended all tournaments there over concerns over the safety of Peng Shuai, the Grand Slam doubles title holder who accused a former Chinese government official of sexual assault. Simon called for a full and transparent investigation to shed light on these allegations, and an opportunity for his tour to get in touch with her directly — so far, none of that has happened.
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Peng immediately disappeared from public view, before attempting to back down. She no longer leaves China and participated in a public relations operation settled at quarter of everything as part of the Beijing Olympics last February.
Shenzhen, China was supposed to hold the WTA Finals until 2030, but the COVID-19 pandemic has sabotaged those plans in 2020 and 2021. Simon is unaware of what will happen in 2023, vowing to make a decision on that “at the latest by March next year”.
“We hope to be able to get there, he confided, but obviously there are some issues to be resolved. »
He identified two: the Peng Shuai situation and the health restrictions associated with the coronavirus pandemic.
“We have to settle the issue with Peng… We believe that she is safe, and we know that she is in Beijing, which is wonderful. That’s what we want. But we received no guarantees that our request for an independent investigation would be respected, Simon said. What is the background of the story? That’s all we want to know. What’s the story? She obviously showed great courage in coming out of the shadows to deliver her message. The principles she defended correspond perfectly with the values of our organization. And what we have asked for is an investigation to understand what happened, and what did not happen, in order to take adequate measures. »
The decision to award the WTA Finals to Fort Worth was announced in September — just ahead of next week’s Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Scotland — and thousands of seats have gone unfilled over the first two days of competition.
Simon admitted the competition venue was chosen “at the last minute” and added that the amphitheater was “perhaps a bit too big for us, but it’s great”.
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