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Simon acknowledged that the tour may perhaps have minimal leverage to affect Chinese officialdom.
“I’m not sitting below and considering that I’m going to resolve the world’s issues by any implies,” he explained. “But what I am here to do is that we have an athlete that’s component of the WTA household that’s occur out with major allegations. We’re going to be 100 p.c supportive of that, and we want to see a comprehensive investigation on this.
“If that is not the situation and if they are not cooperative, then we’ll have to make some selections, and we’re geared up to do so, and which is the ideal we can do. But we’re not going to again off this position. It is the proper area to be.”
Chinese authorities have routinely retaliated when confronted with outside criticism. In 2019, broadcasts of the N.B.A. had been quickly halted on Chinese state tv soon after Daryl Morey, a previous Houston Rockets executive who is now with the Philadelphia 76ers, tweeted his solidarity with pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. The league’s commissioner, Adam Silver, later on reported that the fallout experienced price tag the league hundreds of tens of millions of bucks.
Past month, Boston Celtics games were being pulled from the Chinese internet right after Enes Kanter, one particular of the team’s players, referred to as President Xi Jinping of China a “brutal dictator” on social media.
“Look, I can not converse to the conclusions that the N.B.A. manufactured,” Simon said. “They experienced, definitely, distinctive difficulties. But in this predicament, the WTA problem is about possible sexual assault of one particular of our players. That is anything that just just cannot be compromised.”
The WTA Tour has more and more concentrated on the Chinese current market over the previous decade, culminating with the 10-calendar year deal to stage the tour finals in Shenzhen that started in 2019. Simon stated the Chinese organizers prepared to spend “more than $1 billion” more than the existence of the offer, which includes the value of a new stadium, and they doubled the event’s prize income to $14 million.
But the 2020 finals, along with most Chinese tournaments, were being canceled since of the pandemic. None of the 11 scheduled WTA tournaments in China had been held this year as China ongoing to prohibit foreigners from entering the nation. The WTA has managed to fill the slots on the calendar with new or non permanent functions, normally with lesser purses. The WTA Finals, which will conclude on Wednesday, ended up moved to Guadalajara, Mexico, the place prize dollars is a comparatively low $5 million but enthusiasm and crowds have been significant.
