Wimbledon winner Simona Halep banned after guilty doping verdict - but for how long?
The Romanian Tennis star won Wimbledon in 2019; today she has been banned from tennis after testing positive for illegal substances
“Today begins the hardest match of my life: a fight for the truth” begins Simona Halep in her statement, published on Twitter this afternoon, “I feel confused and betrayed”. Halep claims to have “never knowingly taken any prohibited substance.”
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has said today that Simona Halep has been banned under Article 7.12.1 of the 2022 Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP). “While provisionally suspended, the player is ineligible to compete in or attend any sanctioned tennis events organised by the governing bodies of the sport,” the statement read.
How long will the ban last?
Simona currently sits ninth in the world rankings. She tested positive for Roxadustat, a drug that increases red blood cell production, in New York after being knocked out by unseeded Ukrainian Daria Snigur in the first round of the tournament. As of yet there is no word on just how long Halep will be unable to feature in official competitions, but what is certain is that the biggest doping scandal since Maria Sharapova, who was banned for 15 months in 2016, will continue to develop.