The 2024 tennis season was marred with doping controversies, with Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek at its center. However, an old doping case was also up for much discussion and it was of the Romanian superstar Simona Halep who, unlike Sinner and Swiatek, was handed a lengthy ban for failing the dope tests a couple of years ago. A Romanian politician and the head of the Romanian tennis federation have stepped forward with their support for Halep now, highlighting that the former World No. 1 was not treated fairly or how she deserved to be.
Halep tested positive for Roxadustat during the 2022 US Open and received a four-year suspension from ITIA. However, the Romanian player appealed to the CAS, claiming she had no active or conscious involvement in the contamination. Upon her claims being proven right, Halep’s suspension was reduced to nine months. On the contrary, Jannik Sinner also tested positive for the banned substance Clostebol and received only eight days of suspension, as it was found that his physiotherapist had used a spray containing clostebol to treat his own wound and then massaged Sinner without gloves, resulting in contamination. Sinner was also stripped of the prize money and the ranking points that he earned from Indian Wells.
Like Sinner, Polish player Iga Swiatek tested positive for Trimetazidine that entered her system through contaminated melatonin. Swiatek’s doping ordeal resulted in a month of suspension leading to her withdrawal from the entire Asian Swing. She also lost her no. 1 rank because of her continued absence from the tour. However, neither Sinner nor Swiatek faced as much impact of the incident as Halep did. The Romanian Tennis Federation’s head George Cosac has now extended his support for Halep.
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Cosac, the head of the Romanian Tennis Federation, called the WTA star their “National Treasure” while showing his solidarity for the player. Echoing his voice, the Romanian politician Dimitrie Sturdza delved deeper criticizing how Halep was not just mistreated but her case was considered differently. “They treated him in a completely different way than Simona. We are dealing with ordinary pigs. I am a man who weighs my words carefully, but this was too much. They made too much of a mockery of Halep,” Sturdza said.
via Imago Image courtesy – Imago
Interestingly, the Romanian player herself expressed her dissatisfaction with how Swiatek received only a month of suspension while she was primarily sent off the court for four years. Her statement highlighted her frustration about how ITIA dealt with the cases.
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Simona Halep is looking for a “logical answer” after being treated differently
When Swiatek’s doping fiasco came to the public eye, Halep took to her IG platform to raise some serious points. Reflecting on the differences in ITIA’s judgment of her and Swiatek’s case, the Romanian player said, “I’m sitting and trying to understand, but it’s really impossible for me to understand something like this. I stand and ask myself, why is there such a big difference in treatment and judgment? I can’t find and I don’t think there can be a logical answer. It can only be bad will from ITIA, the organization that has done absolutely everything to destroy me despite the evidence.”
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Halep also revealed how it impacted her mental health. “I lost two years of my career, I lost many nights when I couldn’t sleep, thoughts, anxiety, questions without answers… but I won justice. It turned out that it was a contamination and that the biological passport was a pure invention. And I won something else, my soul remained clean!! I feel disappointed, I feel mad, I feel frustrated, but I do not feel evil even now.”
While Halep and Iga Swiatek’s cases are done and dusted, Jannik Sinner’s case will be under trial soon at CAS after WADA has appealed against the ITIA’s decision. The verdict will be out next year, but Sinner’s fans will definitely be nervous. Do you think the World No. 1 will escape a ban? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.