GONE GIRL

As a child in the enormous, crowded Chinese city of Tianjin, doctors told Peng Shuai she would never play tennis professionally because of a heart defect. Unperturbed, she underwent heart surgery aged 12, and by 15 had broken into China’s national tennis scene. She became known for her ferocious style of play, and her rare tendency to return a serve with a two-handed forehand. In her late teens, she bristled at attempts by Communist Party apparatchiks to collect two-thirds of her earnings. Eventually, she was allowed to keep her money, as long as she “brought glory” upon China. By 27, she had won doubles at both Wimbledon and the French Open.

But on November 2 last year in Tianjin, her good fortune came to an end. In a lengthy blog posted to Weibo (the Chinese version of Twitter), the 35-year-old described an incident from some years ago, claiming she had been