Women’s Tennis Association chairman Steve Simon announced Thursday that he planned to retire at the end of the season.
Simon, 70, was a sometimes strident leader of the women’s professional tennis tour for the past decade who led a boycott of China for its silencing of a prominent player but ultimately appeared to prioritize money and the sport’s financial future over human rights.
“Since day one, I have worked to deliver positive change and growth for women’s tennis, to advance the WTA values of progress, opportunity and empowerment, and to promote dialogue and collaboration between players, tournaments and partners across the game” Simon said in a statement. “I am proud of what we have accomplished and look forward to watching the continued rise of women’s tennis in years to come.”
The American had a reputation as a solid and hard-working but unassuming leader in 2021 when he was thrust into prominence after the Grand Slam doubles champion, Peng Shuai, took to social media and seemingly accused a former top government Zhang Gaoli, a former vice premier of China, in social media posts that were quickly deleted.
Peng accused Zhang, 75, of sexually assaulting her at his home three years ago. She also described having had an on-and-off consensual relationship with Zhang. The Chinese government quickly removed all mentions of Peng’s accusation, and coverage of Peng from news media outside China was been censored. She was not been seen in public except in the company of government officials for weeks.
After trying to establish independent contact with Peng but facing roadblocks at every turn, Simon announced the WTA would suspend all operations in China, a risky move with significant financial consequences for the tour, which was reeling from lost revenues during the Covid-19 pandemic. Women’s tennis stood to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in the coming years by pulling out of China. The tour has a 10-year deal to hold its season-ending tournament in Shenzhen, where organizers committed to some $150 million in prize money and millions more on tennis development in the country. The organization also holds eight other tournaments in the country.
“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,” Simon said at the time. “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.”
Peng at the 2020 Australian Open( Fred Lee/Getty Images)
In 2023, however, after a year and a half of little progress and the WTA Tour facing some financial peril, Simon announced that the WTA would return to China. No other sports organizations had followed his lead. Peng had seemingly retracted her accusation, saying she had been misunderstood when she wrote.
There had been no investigation and Simon admitted defeat. The Chinese then broke their contract to hold the Tour finals once again. A cobbled-together Tour Finals in Cancun turned into a logistical disaster, with a court that players called dangerous and swaths of empty seats in a small, temporary stadium in a parking lot.
Last year, Simon and the WTA reached a deal to hold its season-ending Tour Finals in Saudi Arabia for the next three years, amid significant backlash from some of the sport’s biggest stars, such as the 18-time Grand Slam singles champions Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert.
The WTA was founded half a century ago by Billie Jean King and eight other women committed to equality for women both on and off the court. With a proud history of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer champions, partnering with Saudi Arabia was seen by Navratilova, Evert and human rights activists as an abandonment of its principles. The Saudis had offered a deal that included record prize money of $15 million.
“We do compete in many countries that certainly reflect different cultures and value systems,” Simon said at the time. “We certainly understand and respect that Saudi is something that provokes some very strong views.”
He said the tour had received assurances that “everyone’s going to be welcome at the finals and I don’t anticipate anything more than positive experiences. We have assurances that everybody is welcome in the country to come and compete and work and do what needs to be done. They don’t judge anyone coming in.”
Supporters, including King, have seen Simon as a pragmatist and consensus builder who tries to move the tour methodically toward its goals. He has pushed for equal prize money with the men, and ultimately got the biggest tournaments to agree to it. However, the changes are not mandatory until 2027 for the largest events and 2033 for the second-tier tournaments.
He was initially supportive of a significant change in the sport’s structure and open to working with the Grand Slams to create a premium tour that could potentially increase prize money and make the tour less taxing for the top players. However, during the last six months, he has instead sided with the ATP leader Andrea Gaudenzi to try to maintain something far closer to the status quo.
A group of players and the nascent Professional Tennis Players Association have sued the men’s and women’s tours and the International Tennis Federation in hopes of bringing major structural change to the sport.
In a statement, Jessica Pegula, the world No. 4 and a member of the WTA Player Council, said she had seen first-hand how Simon “has worked continuously for progress and growth in women’s tennis, and has been a champion for WTA’s values. I thank him for everything that he has done for the WTA and its players, and I wish him all the best for his retirement.”
(Top photo: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)