[hker]

Both Billie Jean King, the founder of WTA, and Novak Djokovic support WTA’s announcement [1].

    “I applaud Steve Simon and the WTA leadership for taking a strong stand on defending human rights in China and around the world,” said Billie Jean King. “The WTA is on the right side of history in supporting our players. This is another reason why women’s tennis is the leader in women’s sports.”

    Novak Djokovic, World No 1 and cofounder of the Professional Tennis Players Association, said he fully supported the WTA’s stance, and everyone including the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) was “asking for clarity on what is going on”.

    “We don’t have enough information and I think it’s a very bold, very courageous stance from WTA,” he told reporters.

[1]: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/dec/01/wta-suspends-t...

Joe Pompliano thinks the WTA will lose 1/3 of their revenue [2].

[2]: https://twitter.com/JoePompliano/status/1466142522628059144

[ekanes]

They might also gain NEW fans and revenue from people impressed and intrigued by this bold move.

[Calamitous]

I have zero interest in sports of any kind, but this has made me wonder if there’s some way I can support this.

[maccolgan]

Is it just me or I don't see the correlation between WTA and human rights? Do they have a horse in this race?

[hker]

Even IOC calls the Peng Shuai situation ‘humanitarian matters’ that they would proceed with “quiet diplomacy” [1]. Short of calling this a hostage situation, this is definitely not normal.

[1]: https://olympics.com/ioc/news/ioc-statement-on-the-situation...

IOC is the only entity outside China which contacted Peng Shuai, whose external communication is under heavy control by China, so it may be harder for others to see what is going on.

Also, WTA is calling for an investigation into a #MeToo, which arguably falls under human rights.