
Picture Credit: Twitter
Romania’s former World No. 1 Simona Halep has been handed four-year ban by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) on Tuesday, 12th September. The ITIA’s decision comes after the two-time Grand Slam champion was proved to have violated anti-doping rules in the process.
The 31-year-old, who had been provisionally suspended since October 2022 after testing positive for banned substance in blood-booster roxadustat at the US Open last year, has however, not accepted the decision of the ITIA and aims to appeal this decision.
Notably, the ban which is said to keep her out of professional tennis till October 6, 2026 shared a statement on social media after the charges of ITIA. “I take the rules that govern our sport very seriously and take pride in the fact I have never knowingly or intentionally used any prohibited substance. I refused to accept their decision of a four-year ban,” she wrote in the opening paragraph of a long message.
“I intend to appeal this decision to The Court of Arbitration for Sport and pursue all legal remedies against the supplement company in question,” she concluded her statement keeping her views clear.
Notably, it did not end here as Simona Halep’s coach Patrick Mouratoglou, who also happens to be the coach of Holger Rune opened up, calling it “Simona Halep’s unfair situation.” “I cannot believe the decision that the ITIA has taken today in the case of Simona. I am extremely shocked and I have been during this whole year by the methods and the behavior of an organization that is supposed to treat the players fairly and try to establish the truth,” he began his statement.
It is to be further noted that with a four-year-ban on Halep, ITF will be awarding the 2019 Wimbledon Championship trophy to Serena Williams. With this, Williams will tie with Novak Djokovic at 24 Grand Slams, with the latter clinching his 24 th recently at the US Open 2023.