Hard-done-by Halep lets loose in interview

Simona Halep let her frustration rip as she discussed her historic doping bans, with the former No. 1 complaining she got a raw deal from anti-doping bosses.

Halep was quick to compare her case, which busted out into the open shortly after her positive test for Roxadustat at the 2022 US Open, to the secrecy surrounding the recent positive results for Jannik Sinner and Iga swiatek.

Halep, 33, was originally slapped with a four-year ban, reduced to nine months on appeal.

By contrast, Both ATP No. 1 Sinner and forly top-ranked Swiatek, barely registered for illegal substances in their own positive tests this season.

Sinner and Swiatek are both back in action, though the Italian’s case has been complicated legally by suits filed by a top anti-doping authority protesting his one-month shadow ban.

Swiatek got the same treatment for a similar offence, sitting out for a month under cover of secrecy in September.

Halep can’t stand the perceived injustice, refusing to mention Swiatek’s name as she told London’s Telegraph:

 “The woman player – I don’t want to give name, you know about who I’m talking about – she had the three-week suspension, then she played two events, and then she gets again suspension.

“What is this? I mean, I don’t understand. So I feel it is not fair.”

Halep added: ““What I believe is not fair, either, is that they announced my case straight away, and I got all the heat from the press, and for these two players they kept it secret, and they just said about the case when everything was done, so it’s very weird.

“And I asked also to lift the provisional suspension to be able to play. I said, ‘If you believe in the end that I am guilty, you take the points back and all the money and everything, but let me play,’ because I wanted to keep the rhythm. I asked this about two or three times, but now they [Sinner and Swiatek] could play.”