At tennis’s most recent major tournament, the 2023 Australian Open, seven Chinese women were entered in the main draw, a record for the country. At the same event, 17-year-old Juncheng “Jerry” Shang won his first-round assignation, marking the first time a Chinese man had won a match at the Australian Open. A few weeks later at the Dallas Open, Wu Yibing took the title, becoming the first Chinese player to win an ATP tournament.
And yet as Chinese tennis rises, a mother of this current boom remains shrouded in mystery. It’s been nearly 17 months now since Peng Shuai’s uncertain status first became an international news story. Today, Where is Peng Shuai? remains both a hashtag and a troublingly unanswered question.
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