ATP Tour to return to China while WTA continues their boycott following Peng Shuai concerns
- Seb Sternik
- 24 February 2022
The ATP Tour will return to China in September as elite level tennis returns to the country for the first time since the breakout of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The men's tour has been up and running since late 2020 with China yet to organise a tournament.
However, that is set to change in September as the country hosts the Chengdu Open, with a further competition scheduled to take place in Zhuhai the following week.
Those events will be followed by the Beijing Open and the Shanghai Masters - one of the marquee events of the calendar.
The WTA Tour, on the other hand, is currently boycotting China due to safety concerns over Peng Shuai.
In December, the Women's Tennis Association announced its suspension of all tournaments in China following a high-profile row with Beijing over the player's wellbeing.
At the time of the decision, WTA chairman Steve Simon said: "In good conscience, I don't see how I can ask our athletes to compete there when Peng Shuai is not allowed to communicate freely and has seemingly been pressured to contradict her allegation of sexual assault.
"Given the current state of affairs, I am also greatly concerned about the risks that all of our players and staff could face if we were to hold events in China in 2022."
The WTA is yet to announce when their suspension of China will come to an end.
