Tennis players take on Communist Party: Where is Peng Shuai?

By STEPHEN WADE
AP Sports Writer

Some of the world’s most famous tennis players are distraught by the disappearance of colleague Peng Shuai and are challenging China’s Communist Party to get answers. So far it’s a standoff with little visible impact as tennis players like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal — joined by tennis governing bodies, human rights groups, and at least one athletes’ lobby — try to turn their profiles into power. Peng disappeared after making allegations two weeks ago of sexual assault against former vice premier Zhang Gaoli who was a member of the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee and a lieutenant of General Secretary Xi Jinping.