Halep hit with ban after failing US Open drug test
TWO-TIME Grand Slam champion Simona Halep vowed to ‘fight for the truth’ after she was provisionally suspended from tennis for failing a drugs test at this year’s US Open.
In what is tennis’s biggest drugs controversy since the Maria Sharapova saga, the Romanian world No 9’s sample was found to contain the blood-booster roxadustat.
Halep, 31, strongly denied wrongdoing in a social media post yesterday. ‘Today begins the hardest match of my life — a fight for the truth,’ she said. ‘I have been notified that I have tested positive for a substance called roxadustat in an extremely low quantity, which came as the biggest shock of my life. ‘Throughout my career, the idea of cheating never crossed my mind once — it is totally against all the values I have been educated with. ‘Facing such an unfair situation, I feel completely confused and betrayed.’ The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced that the former world No 1 will be banned from participation at any tournament until a full hearing is held.
An ITIA statement read: ‘The player exercised their right to request that the B sample (as it is split into two) was analysed, which confirmed the finding in the A sample.
‘While provisionally suspended, the player is ineligible to compete in or attend any sanctioned tennis events organised by the governing bodies of the sport.’
Her last result was a shock defeat by world No 124 Daria Snigur and she has not played since due to having surgery on her nose to help her breathing. Banned substance roxadustat is used to help spare patients with kidney disease the pain of injections should they develop anaemia. It also helps to stimulate the production of red blood cells. Until recently, symptoms could be treated only by medicine that patients usually inject themselves, alongside iron infusions in hospital twice a year.
It can now be taken as a tablet at home and works by mimicking the body’s natural response to reduced oxygen in the blood.
The 2019 Wimbledon champion (below) added: ‘I will fight until the end to prove I have never knowingly taken any prohibited substance and I have faith that sooner or later, the truth will come out.
‘It’s not about titles or money. It’s about honour, and the love story I have developed with the game of tennis over the last 25 years.’
It is tennis’s most high-profile failed drugs test since five-time slam winner Sharapova tested positive for meldonium, a metabolic modulator which aids blood flow. The Russian star was banned for two years before it was reduced on appeal as the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled she had no ill intent when taking the drug. Halep was informed of a pre-charge notice on October 7, with the presence of a prohibited substance in the player’s sample. Roxadustat features in section two of the World Anti Doping Agency’s prohibited list.
It is commonly used in the treatment of anaemia and incudes an agent which is banned at all times — in and out of competition periods. The activating agents can stimulate the natural response to insufficient oxygen in the body, which leads to an increase in endurance. This caps a tumultous year for Halep, who returned to the top 10 after injury issues, reaching the semi-finals at Wimbledon and winning WTA Tour events in Melbourne and Toronto.