Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal voice concerns over Chinese star Peng Shuai
Tennis legends Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are the latest stars to come out and voice their concerns over missing Chinese player Peng Shuai.
The former doubles World No.1 from China have been missing since she made allegations of sexual assault against a former Chinese government official earlier this month.
Despite a new video release from the editor of a newspaper in China which showed the tennis star being introduced at a youth tennis match in Beijing, there are still big question marks over the authenticity of that footage.
Now Federer has shown her concerns about the same and spoked to the Italian media for the first time regarding Peng. The former World No.1 said:
“She’s one of our tennis champions, a former world number 1, and clearly it’s concerning.
“I hope she’s safe. The tennis family sticks together and I’ve always told my children as well that the tennis family is my second family. I’ve been on tour for 20-25 years and I love the tour, I love the people that are there, [they] are special, the players as well, and she’s one of them.”
Joining Fedex, was another 20-time Grand Slam champion Nadal. The Spanish told the French newspaper L’Equipe:
“The most important thing is to find out whether she is OK. All of us in the tennis family hope to see her back with us soon.”
What happened to Peng Shuai?
Former tennis star, Peng has been missing since she claimed on Chinese social media earlier this month that former vice-premier of China Zhang Gaoli had forced her into a sexual relationship.
The claims which were made on Chinese social media sites were quickly taken down and since then there has been no mention of this Weibo (Twitter-like social media platform).
Zhang, 75, is a former vice-premier who was a member of the ruling Communist Party’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee. There have been no comments regarding the same from him.
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The Chinese tennis player is a former Wimbledon and French Open doubles champion as well and has won Gold in Asian Games in 2010. She has also represented China at Beijing, London and Rio Olympics.
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