She ensures that the positive test is “the greatest shock of [sa] life “. Former tennis world number one Simona Halep said on Friday October 21 that she “would fight to the end” to prove that she had not knowingly taken a banned substance, after being suspended for doping.
A sample provided by Mme Halep, 31, at the US Open in late August showed traces of Roxadustat, a drug that stimulates the production of red blood cells and is used to treat patients with kidney problems, the International Tennis Integrity Agency said (ITIA). Simona Halep faces up to four years of suspension under anti-doping regulations. Initially, it has ten days from the notification of the ITIA to appeal.
The Romanian player, current noh 9 in the world, immediately reacted on social networks: “Throughout my career, the idea of cheating has never once crossed my mind, because it is totally against all the values with which I was brought up.. I will fight to the end to prove that I never knowingly took a banned substance and I am sure that sooner or later the truth will come out. »
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Simona Halep is the first very high-level player caught in the anti-doping nets since the resounding suspension of Maria Sharapova in 2016. She ended her season in mid-September, after a nose operation, to settle a breathing problem in particular.
Trained by Patrick Mouratoglou since the spring after having considered stopping his career for a time, the player found a second wind this year, as evidenced by her semi-final at Wimbledon in July and her title in Toronto in August. She then lost in the first round of the US Open at the end of August, against Ukrainian Daria Snigur, who qualified.