Shuai Peng

Shuai Peng is a former Chinese professional tennis player, who competed on the WTA Tour since 2001.

Date of Birth:	8 January 1986
Birthplace:	Xiangtan, Hunan, China
Residence:	Beijing, China
Height:	5'10" (177 cm)
Weight:	134 lbs (61 kg)
Plays:	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Turned Pro:	2001

Shuai Peng was born on January 8, 1986, in Xiangtan, Hunan, China, to Jijun Peng and Zhang Bing. She began playing tennis at the age of eight, after her uncle, who is a tennis coach, introduced her to the sport. Peng had surgery to repair a defect in her heart when she was 13 years old. After the surgery, she joined the state training program in Tianjin.

After playing her first WTA Tour matches in 2004, Peng started competing more regularly on the Tour in 2005. She registered her first Grand Slam victories at the Australian Open and French Open. In addition, Peng had a run to the semifinal of the WTA 1000 event at the Southern California Open.

2006 saw Peng progress to a maiden final at the Internationaux de Strasbourg. Her run included a victory over the No. 1 seed Patty Schnyder before she fell to Nicole Vadisova. Peng also made her first appearance in a Grand Slam third round at Wimbledon, where she lost to Flavia Pennetta.

After breaking into the Top 50 in 2007, Peng reached two more finals in 2008. These were both on hard courts at the Forest Hills Classic and the Guangzhou Open. She was the runner-up to Lucie Safarova and Vera Zvonareva, respectively.

Peng had a very strong season in 2011. She made appearances in the fourth round at the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the French Open. The Chinese player also made her fourth final on clay at the Brussels Open, but she lost out once again, this time to Caroline Wozniacki. However, she still ended the year as the world No. 17.

After finishing as the runner-up once more at the Brussels Open in 2013, and then for a sixth time in total at the Shenzhen Open, Peng had a career-best run at a Grand Slam by making the semifinal of the 2014 US Open. She defeated Jie Zheng, Agnieszka Radwanska, Roberta Vinci, Lucie Safarova, and Belinda Bencic to achieve that feat. Peng was knocked out by Caroline Wozniacki.

At the 2016 Tianjin Open, Peng’s wait for a WTA Tour title finally ended. In her seventh final, she overcame Alison Riske 7-6, 6-2 to taste glory for the first time. But she was not done there. Peng claimed a second title the following year at the Jiangxi Open, beating Nao Hibino 6-3, 6-2 in the final.

The following few years were less successful, and it seemed like Peng’s career may quietly end. However, in November 2021, she became known worldwide for off-court reasons. After accusing Zhang Gaoli, a high-ranking member of the Chinese Communist Party, of sexual assault in a Weibo post, Peng disappeared from public view and could not be reached by the WTA.

The WTA subsequently suspended all tournaments in China, although professional sport was mostly prohibited in the country at that time due to COVID-19 restrictions anyway. Peng eventually took part in an interview with L’Equipe, although it seemed very obvious this was under very strict supervision from Chinese authorities.

In April 2023, the WTA lifted its suspension on China, with many accusing the previous ban of being purely symbolic, feeling that the WTA had returned as soon as COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. Peng is now officially retired from the sport, and the full details of her ordeal are unlikely ever to be known.