Romania’s Simona Halep, former world number 1, has been provisionally suspended for doping after testing positive for the banned substance Roxadustat, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced on Friday. This drug is usually prescribed to people with kidney problems.
Romanian Simona Halep, former world number 1, has been provisionally suspended for doping after testing positive for Roxadustat, a prohibited substance, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced on Friday. The sample from Halep, 31, taken at the US Open in late August, showed traces of the drug which stimulates the production of red blood cells and is used in the treatment of patients with kidney problems, the ITIA said. in a press release.
The player, current world number 9, immediately reacted on her social networks, believing that the positive test was “the biggest shock of (my) life”. “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,” she said. for follow-up.
“I’m sure that sooner or later the truth will come out”
“I will fight until the end to prove that I never knowingly took a prohibited substance and I am sure that sooner or later the truth will come out.” At the end of August, the winner of Roland-Garros in 2018 and Wimbledon in 2019 had been eliminated in the first round of the US Open by the Ukrainian Daria Snigur, yet from the qualifications.
— Simona Halep (@Simona_Halep) October 21, 2022
On September 15, after a nose operation, she already announced on Twitter that her season was over and that she would not play again until 2023.