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Cardiac abnormality

Born in 1986 in Xiangtan, in the province of Hunan (center), she started playing tennis at the age of 8, trained by her uncle who played there.

At 12, despite her family's fears, she insisted on having an operation to correct a heart defect.

“Because I love tennis so much,” the player explained later.

Renowned a fan of former American champion John McEnroe, Peng Shuai left for the United States at the age of 15 to complete his training.

To communicate, the young player is equipped with a simple electronic Chinese-English dictionary.

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The consecration

By winning in doubles Wimbledon in 2013, then Roland-Garros the following year, Peng Shuai, already a star in his country, is still gaining notoriety.

As a reward, a business owner from his hometown offers him an apartment measuring 126 square meters.

In 2014, she remained world number one in doubles for 20 weeks and reached the zenith of her singles career playing the semi-final of the US Open.

In all, she won 23 WTA doubles and two singles titles in her career, pocketing nearly $ 10 million in awards.

Peng Shuai is now ranked 193rd in the world in doubles (and 309th in singles) but has not played in a WTA tournament since early 2020 in Qatar.

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Six month suspension

In 2018, she received a six-month suspension (three of which was suspended) and a $ 10,000 fine for trying to force her doubles partner, Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei, with whom she won Wimbledon and Roland Garros. , to withdraw from the London tournament the previous year.

Peng Shuai is accused of resorting to "intimidation and attempted bribery" against her partner.

The two women will however replay together in doubles.

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Sex scandal

On November 2, 2021, in an explosive message posted on the Chinese social network Weibo, Peng Shuai spoke at length about his extramarital affair with a former vice-prime minister, Zhang Gaoli, married and 40 years his senior.

The player also talks about her discomfort in the face of this toxic relationship where she was regularly attacked by the wife of the leader.

Peng Shuai also said that three years ago she "accepted" sex again with him, but felt "forced" to do so after Zhang Gaoli's insistence that made her "cry".

During a relationship of ten years, interspersed with periods without contact, the player was the mistress of the ex-leader, until an argument a few days before the message was sent.

AFP was unable to determine whether the text was written by Peng Shuai.

In any case, it was censored about twenty minutes after being broadcast.

Since then, the Chinese media have remained silent and the vast majority of Chinese are unaware of this affair.

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A reappearance but doubts

For several days, the champion does not appear publicly, which maintains the concern of the association which manages the professional women's tennis circuit (WTA) and many stars such as Novak Djokovic or Naomi Osaka.

Shuai Peng at the Australian Open, January 21, 2020 in Melbourne Greg Wood AFP / Archives

Peng Shuai finally reappears in November in a restaurant in Beijing and during a tennis tournament in the Chinese capital, according to videos published by official media.

She also spoke by videoconference with Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) who announced Thursday that he had spoken to her again, without however publishing any recording or images.

The WTA and the European Union, among others, have been asking in recent days for additional evidence that Peng Shuai is free to move around and that his accusations will be dealt with by justice.

The WTA finally decided on Wednesday to suspend its tournaments in China.

The Chinese tennis association has expressed its "opposition" to the decision.

© 2021 AFP