"I never said anyone sexually assaulted me," Peng Shuai denies sexual allegations again

According to an interview posted Monday, Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai stated she never convicted anyone of sexual harassment. Thus, rebutting an allegation that caused widespread worry about her wellbeing.

After creating a social media post accusing former Chinese vice premier Zhang Gaoli of sexually harassing her in 2017, the tennis star's well-being and situation have become a worldwide scandal during the last three months. Peng Shuai was not seen publicly for weeks after the message was taken down from social media within an hour. It raised alarm from the tennis fraternity and admirers. Afterwards, the  WTA suspended tournaments in China. Also, several countries declined to send ambassadors to the Beijing 2022 Olympics. Nevertheless, Peng has given an interview to the French publisher L'Equipe in which she denies ever being molested or disappeared.

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Peng Shuai's revealation

The 36-year-old tennis star stated, "First of all, I would like to thank all the ATP and WTA players. All the athletes and all the personalities in large numbers who cared about me. But I didn't think there would be such concern and I would like to know: Why such concern? I never said anyone sexually assaulted me in any way. I never disappeared, everyone could see me. It's just that a lot of people, like my friends, including from the IOC, messaged me and it was quite impossible to reply to so many messages."

"But with my close friends, I always remained in close contact. I discussed with them, answered their emails. I also discussed with the WTA. But, at the end of the year, their website's communication computer was changed and many players had difficulty logging in at that time. But we always kept in touch with colleagues. That's why I don't know why the information that I had disappeared, spread. This post has given rise to a huge misunderstanding from the outside world. I hope that we no longer distort the meaning of this post. And I also hope that we don't add more hype on this." Shuai did not forget to add further.

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Ever since Qatar Total Open in February 2020, Peng hasn't competed in a competition. She was formerly rated 14th in the world in singles and first in doubles, having won Grand Slam doubles titles. However, Peng further stated that she is unlikely to play professionally again due to her age and a previous knee injury that necessitated multiple rounds of surgery.