Alize Cornet, who underwent two defeats, one in Melbourne and the other in Adelaide, in the first tournaments of the 2022 season, resumed playing in preparation for the Australian Open 2022, the first Grand Slam of the year.

The French player, who faced competitive opponent on hard courts like the Japanese Naomi Osaka, made headlines after a recent press conferences held in front of the media: among the topics covered was that of Peng Shuai, given that the athlete was one of the first to raise her voice on the situation experienced by the Chinese government.

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“I felt a bit responsible for the whole wave that followed my tweet. In a way it was a good thing, I think the world needed to hear what was happening, because the situation was not normal and I felt that things were going wrong,”Alize said in a statement.

“I thought maybe the audience needed to hear a player talk about it. I’m used to expressing my opinion when there is something that bothers me, it was the only thing I did. I was real to myself, I couldn’t let go of what was going on, so it made me happy to see people following me. The situation took a course I didn’t expect at all, the reaction of Steve Simon (CEO of the WTA) and everything that followed was enormous,” she added.

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She then added: “That’s why I feel somehow responsible for all of this. It seems to me that it was a bit strange, but on the one hand it is something that had to be done. I’m still a little worried about her. I must say that this whole affair still makes me uncomfortable, I don’t know how it is, I don’t know what the truth is and what the lies are.”

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“The truth is, I don’t know what else to believe anymore. Now I follow all this more from the outside and I only wish the best. I think about what I could do, I did, and now I wish her all the best and that she is well. I feel like I no longer have the power to do much more,” she concluded.

Also read: Chinese Tennis star Peng Shuai denies making sexual assault accusations

Peng Shuai, a former Wimbledon and French Open doubles champion, in November alleged on social media that former vice-premier Zhang Gaoli forced her into sex during a long-term on-off relationship.

It was the first time that the #MeToo movement had touched China’s ruling Communist Party but Peng’s online post was deleted and her claims censored, then she disappeared from the public, only to reappear three weeks later.

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However, there are doubts surfacing on and off about how free Peng really is and having made global headlines for weeks, the outcry about her plight has since died down and the focus of the tennis world shifted to Novak Djokovic’s visa saga.