Two-time Romanian Grand Slam winner Simona Halep disqualified for four years for violation of anti-doping rules, announced the end of his cooperation with coach Patrick Mouratoglou.
In September, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced a four-year ban for Halep. The Romanian woman was charged with two separate counts. The first involved a negative drug test result for the banned substance roxadustat at the 2022 US Open. The second charge was related to discrepancies in the athlete’s biological passport indicators.
“Even though I’m going through the hardest time of my life as an athlete, I know I’m clean. I received thousands of messages of encouragement. And rival players also showed their support,” Halep said, as quoted by Euronews Romania.
Mouratoglou has been working with Halep since the spring of 2022. Previously, the specialist took responsibility for the entry of a banned drug into the athlete’s body. The Court of Arbitration for Sport will consider the Romanian’s appeal in February.
— I would like Mouratoglou to speak publicly sooner. It was hard for me because I always trusted my teams and all the coaches I worked with. But now my confidence is a little shaken.
If it’s a four-year disqualification, I don’t know how I’m going to get through it. This will probably be the end of my career. And what’s even more catastrophic is that I didn’t do that and it’s not my fault,” added the 32-year-old tennis player.
Halep topped the WTA rankings for 64 weeks. She won the 2018 French Open and 2019 Wimbledon.
Source : MatchTV
I’m Rose Brown , a journalist and writer with over 10 years of experience in the news industry. I specialize in covering tennis-related news for Athletistic, a leading sports media website. My writing is highly regarded for its quick turnaround and accuracy, as well as my ability to tell compelling stories about the sport.
