Simona Halep fearful that four-year anti-doping breaches ban could end career - 'It’s catastrophic'
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Updated 16/12/2023 at 10:09 GMT
Simona Halep fears that the four-year ban handed to her after being found guilty of anti-doping breaches could spell the end of her career. The Romanian gave a frank and open assessment of what has happened, but despite the huge setback, she remains confident ahead of facing the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The 32-year-old still has her focus on a place at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
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Simona Halep is fearful that a four-year ban from tennis could spell the end of her career, after being found guilty of anti-doping breaches.
The former Wimbledon champion, 32, was provisionally suspended from the sport in October 2022 after testing positive for the banned substance roxadustat in that year's US Open.
Then in September, the Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) confirmed that the Romanian had received a four-year suspension which runs until October 7, 2026.
Halep addressed the issue directly in an interview with Euronews, and spoke about the implications of the ban being imposed, as she awaits the findings from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
When asked if the ban could spell the end of her career, she said: “I think so, yeah, because four years is going to be a lot, for my age at least.
“And for an athlete who has done this thing every day for 25 years and dedicated their life to tennis and to sport, I don't know how it's going to be, but it's catastrophic if it's going to be four years, and I don't know how I will handle it.
“Probably, it's going to be the end of my career, yes. And for something that I didn't do and that is not my fault, it's even more catastrophic.”
The 32-year-old emphasised her innocence and insists it was never her intention to take a performance-enhancing drug after taking a contaminated collagen.
“It's very clear that it was a contamination. Three days before the positive urine test, I was negative in blood and urine," she said.
“So, I've been told at the beginning that it's an extremely low quantity of this substance, banned substance, and in those three days I could not have doped.
“It was not my intention and never has been the intention to do something wrong or something disrespectful to this sport, because I have respected everything and I dedicated my life.
“My principles are not like this, so I didn't think to cheat in tennis.
“And the second one, the blood, I had many, many tests and all of them were negative. So, they never found anything wrong in my blood. So, with these two things, I feel confident going and facing CAS.”
On a positive note, she claimed than an appearance at next year's Olympics in Paris will be her target if found innocent of any wrongdoing.
"This is my dream. I know there are not big chances for this, but I'm dreaming of this because Paris is my dream city," Halep continued.
"I won Roland-Garros here when I was a junior, so everything started very early, and it will be amazing to be back on court, no matter what.
"But I just want to be on court because that's where I belong and I feel like I want to do it again."
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