Ultimately, the affair showed how even the most conscientious organizations could find their plans undermined by Chinese politics, how any business could unwillingly become a vessel for an international spat. "If you're angering both sides, it means there is no middle ground, which I think was significant," said Dreyer, the Beijing-based sports analyst. Like other observers, Dreyer suggested the WTA's stance was potentially game-changing. But he noted, too, that it was possibly easier for the WTA to defy China than it had been for, say, the N.B.A., for two reasons. First, because the pandemic had already forced the WTA to…
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