Peng Shuai faced accusations of sexual assault and abuse of office from a retired Chinese Communist Party leader. The accusations were first published in the South China Morning Post and were addressed in a post on Peng’s Twitter feed.
Peng is a Chinese tennis player known for having reported using marijuana and binge drinking.
According to a report in the Post, Peng Tsujii, formerly a powerful China party official known as “the Great General,” had a history of abusive treatment of women. Peng Tsujii was convicted in the early 1960s for raping a college student, but his past crimes and perverted behavior only came to light through Peng’s 2014 divorce proceedings from his wife.
When Peng was accused by Tsujii, he took advantage of his celebrity status to launch an aggressive media offensive against Tsujii. He essentially went on trial for one of the most bizarre criminal cases of the 21st century.
Just one day after Chinese President Xi Jinping warned against Chinese corruption, the whole country was looking at her. Multiple press cameras had arrived at Shuai’s locker room, but she persevered.
There were no longer twenty-nine straight wins for Shuai and she was having a bit of a tough time with Peng, but she had enough drive and tenacity to carry her through. All of her wins through the Olympics and Wimbledon this year culminated with the finals at both championships.
It was no wonder that Shuai took the open with the Swiss player time and time again. The two ladies traded blows back and forth until Shuai finally took the Swiss player’s first set to seal the win for herself.
Right around the time of the US Open, Peng saw that she was only one of two unseeded players who had made it into the tournament and seeded at No. 15. She came up big and won the tournament as the highest seeded woman to be in the finals against Serena Williams. While both women had traveled to the finals the way they should have, Williams won the final for her eighth title, the fourth time she has made it to the finals without winning.
Peng has a good chance to make it to the semifinals at the US Open. We’ll find out in a couple weeks.