A few weeks ago, Simona Halep was sentenced to a four-year suspension from the game for doping. Halep did not accept the verdict of the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) and appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. This is the Romanian woman’s last chance to prove her innocence. Halep admitted that if she loses the appeal case, she will most likely be forced to end her career. Here’s what we know about the hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Simona Halep has not played since the fall of 2022, when she received information that she had tested positive for doping. Roxadustat was detected in her urine sample. Today it is known that one of the supplements taken by the tennis player was contaminated with the above-mentioned substance. It’s about collagen, which the tennis player started taking after consulting a team of specialists from the academy of Patrick Mouratoglou, who was the Romanian’s coach at the time. Although the tennis player claims that she has tests proving that she could not have known that the product was contaminated, the International Tennis Integrity Agency refused to analyze them and sentenced the tennis player to a four-year ban.
Halep refused to accept the ITIA ruling. The Romanian appealed to CAS, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and the institution agreed to a hearing in February 2024. Although Halep is optimistic about proving her innocence, in one of her recent interviews she referred to speculations about her career ending after the final verdict was announced by CAS. Halep admitted that if she is forced to serve the four-year ban imposed by ITIA, she will likely not return to the tennis court due to her age. The tennis player would regain the right to compete at the age of 35. This is the age when most tennis players retire.
– Four years is a long time, at my age, at least. And for an athlete who for 25 years did this every day and dedicated her life to tennis and sports, I don’t know how it will be, but it’s catastrophic. If it’s four years, I don’t know how I’ll manage. It will probably be the end of my career, yes. – said Halep to Euronews.
The tennis player still assures that she did not use doping. This is also confirmed by Patrick Mouratoglou. The coach also admitted that he felt responsible for what happened to Halep, because his academy employees recommended that the tennis player take collagen, which turned out to be contaminated with a substance banned by the ITIA.
You can watch Halep’s entire interview with Euronews below.
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