Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai has been staying in her own home “freely” and will make a public appearance “soon”, Global Times editor-in-chief Hu Xijin, a prominent state-media journalist, said on Saturday.

Peng has not been seen or heard from publicly since she said on Chinese social media on November 2 that former vice-premier Zhang Gaoli coerced her into physical relationship.

“In the past few days, she stayed in her own home freely and she didn’t want to be disturbed. She will show up

in public and participate in some activities soon,” Hu wrote on Twitter.

The Global Times is published by the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the ruling Communist Party.

Hu said he had confirmed through his sources that photos shared on Twitter by a journalist working for Chinese state media, purportedly showing Peng at home, depicted her “current state”.

Cloud over Novak

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and all other players will have to be vaccinated against Covid-19 to compete in the Australia Open next January, tournament chief Craig Tiley said on Saturday.

Djokovic has declined to disclose whether he is vaccinated and said that he would wait until Tennis Australia revealed the health protocols before he made a decision about playing at Melbourne Park.

“There’s a lot of speculation about vaccination and just to be really clear, when the (state) Premier announced that everyone on site... will need to be vaccinated ... we made that clear to the playing group,” Tiley told reporters.