Wimbledon men’s final is disrupted by a protester ‘shouting “Where is Peng Shuai?”‘

A protestor was kicked out of the Wimbledon men’s final after shouting ‘Where is Peng Shuai?’ in the middle of a point, causing the match to be disrupted.

Play was quickly stopped and the spectator was bundled out by security, with boos echoing out across Centre Court while Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios watched on.

Kyrgios appeared frustrated with the interruption, having placed his hands on his hips and huffed as he prepared for his opponent to serve in the third set. 

Peng is a Chinese tennis player who went missing from the public eye soon after accusing Zhang Gaoli, a retired Vice Premier of China, of sexual assault in 2021.

She re-appeared on state media two weeks later, although many critics in the west believe her return was staged after concern was raised over her disappearance.

Despite several months passing, Peng is still yet to fully return.

The final day of the championships could have seen hundreds of spectators sporting ‘Where is Peng Shuai?’ t-shirts after a move from an activist group.

Several members were stopped and questioned by security at the All England Club earlier this week, with four activists sporting the message stopped on Monday.

The group said they would return today and distribute tops to spectators. 

‘The All England Club seems terrified of upsetting the Chinese government and its allies,’ Jason Leith, one of the activists who was stopped, said in a statement.

‘Our simple action on Monday gained huge support from tennis fans and we think they will want to show their solidarity with Peng Shuai and other victims of Chinese human rights abuses.

‘We hope that the All England Club will embrace this peaceful statement and acknowledge their missing champion ahead of the women’s doubles finals.’

China has denied allegations of human rights abuses, and says it opposes the ‘politicisation’ of sport. 

Earlier this year, the WTA revealed it was still working to find a resolution to the stand-off over the issue, and insisted it had no plans to return to China this year.

Peng, who announced her retirement from tennis in February, made an appearance at the Winter Olympics in Beijing in the same month.

There, she denied that she had accused anyone of sexual assault, and pointed out that she herself had deleted the social media post. 

More to follow.