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United States Senator Ted Cruz praised the WTA for their "courageous" decision to suspend all tournaments in China and added the WTA has "bigger balls" than the NBA. Peng Shuai went missing in China a month ago and the WTA decided to suspend all tournaments after failing to get a verifiable proof that she was safe.
"I’ll tell ya something right now," Cruz said on the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, "The Women's Tennis Association has bigger balls than the NBA. And I'd like to see courage be contagious and more people stand up.
"The Women's Tennis Association has shown extraordinary courage, calling out the Chinese communist government. Demanding that Peng Shuai be released and she be free, and they’ve put their money where their mouth is."
The WTA takes action, the NBA remains silent
The NBA's bussines in China is worth more than $5 billion and Cruz says the league is putting money above human rights.
"The NBA groveled on their knees before the communist dictators. You had people like LeBron James defending the communist dictators who engage in murder and torture and run concentration camps," Cruz added. WTA CEO Steve Simon took a stand against China and suspended all tournaments scheduled to take place there next year.
"As a result, and with the full support of the WTA Board of Directors, I am announcing the immediate suspension of all WTA tournaments in China, including Hong Kong. In good conscience, I don’t see how I can ask our athletes to compete there when Peng Shuai is not allowed to communicate freely and has seemingly been pressured to contradict her allegation of sexual assault.
Given the current state of affairs, I am also greatly concerned about the risks that all of our players and staff could face if we were to hold events in China in 2022," WTA CEO Simon said in a statement released on Wednesday.
