With Beijing currently hosting the Olympic Games, we obviously wanted to meet with Peng Shuai, to show her somehow that she was still very much on our minds, and to personally check whether she was in good health. We wanted to meet with her despite the limits and constraints the interview would be subjected to, knowing full well she would repeat her previous words to official Chinese media, i.e., that she retracted the message she posted on Weibo (a Chinese social network) on 2 November, in which she had accused Zhang Gaoli, a former Chinese high official, of forcing her to have sexual relations. A message which would vanish from the network after thirty minutes.
Peng Shuai : "My life has been what it's supposed to be: nothing special..."
For the first time since her public reappearance and the turmoil caused by her 2 November message, Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai talks to an international and independent medium.
Peng Shuai is pictured at the Chinese Olympic Committee hotel in Beijing, on Sunday, Feb. 6, wearing the Chinese ice hockey team outfit. She met L'Equipe reporters there for an hour-long interview. (B. Papon/L'Équipe)