In a recent video interview with the Associated Press from her home in Bucharest, Simona Halep discussed the anxiety and mental pressure she faced upon returning to the tour after battling a doping ban. She emphasized that while she has been cleared of wrongdoing, the experience has left a lasting impact on her psyche.
“What I went through is not easy. So I cannot forget, like this,” the former world No.1 said, snapping her fingers, “just because I got cleared. There is baggage that probably will stay longer, and I cannot forget, like, one day (to the next) what happened. So I have to handle it better. I have to control my emotions coming back. So there is a (lot) that is not easy. But the joy, I hope, will help me.”
When she arrived at the Miami Open for her first tournament after the ban, Halep admitted feeling nervous. “I felt like I don’t know what to expect from people (in Miami),” she said. “How it’s going to be — to be in the locker room again. Players’ dining (area). All this routine that I didn’t do for almost two years, it looked new for me.” Despite her initial apprehensions, the 32-year-old found the experience to be very pleasant, feeling welcomed and as though she hadn’t been away for so long.
Not even criticism here and there could ruin her mood in Miami, like Caroline Wozniacki’s comment that dopers should not be given wildcards on comeback. As Halep pointed out in the AP interview, the list of big tennis names supporting her includes Chris Evert, Kim Clijsters, Ashleigh Barty, Angelique Kerber, Petra Kvitova, and Carla Suarez Navarro.
Halep’s doping saga began when she tested positive for the prohibited substance roxadustat at the 2022 US Open, leading to a provisional suspension in October 2022. She maintained her innocence, attributing the positive test to a contaminated supplement. However, the situation became more challenging when she received a second offense in May 2023 for irregularities found in her athlete biological passport. After a year of uncertainty, Halep received a four-year doping ban by the International Tennis Integrity Agency in September 2023, which would have most likely ended her tennis career. She appealed the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne in February this year, where it was ultimately ruled that her intake of roxadustat was unintentional, and her ban was reduced to nine months, which she had already served.
Despite her first-round loss to Paula Badosa at the Miami Open, Halep viewed the tournament as a very positive experience. The two-time Grand Slam champion, working with new coach Carlos Martinez, is now preparing for the clay court season, with plans to compete in the WTA 125 tournament in Oeiras, Portugal, followed by the Mutua Madrid Open.
She did not get cleared, she was given a suspension with the time reduced. She was cleared of nothing.
She needs to stop playing the victim.
Diorama, she means that the final conclusion was that her doping was not intentional, although they said that she should have been more careful about what she put in her body.