not think small; with each new event comes a towering new stadium and vast sums from major sponsors to tennis projects stretching far beyond the tournament.

A satellite image of the huge gathering of personnel and military vehicles in Shenzhen, just a few miles from Hong Kong. Photograph: Maxar Technologies/EPA

While the WTA was in the midst of a mammoth eight weeks in China, the way people speak about the country’s rising presence in world sporting events shifted. When the Houston Rockets general manager, Daryl Morey, tweeted his support for the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests, China’s incensed reaction pushed the league into an international incident. China promised retribution and has acted, most recently refusing to show the opening game of the NBA season.

The NBA’s attempts to simultaneously appease China andthe US has garnered criticism across the board. The widespread attempts for sporting leagues to capitalise on the capital China possesses has come under greater scrutiny, and there are few sporting bodies navigating China as zealously as the WTA.

The saga should be a point of reflection for the WTA, in part because, unlike most other sporting leagues, it is an organisation born out of fighting oppression and the status quo, and its foundations are about much more than just tennis.

Taking the big money from a country with an authoritarian government will always come at a cost and presenting its business decision in terms of empowerment is unreasonable as long as Hong Kong burns next door and Uighur Muslims are being sent to re-education camps on the other side