Simona Halep has confirmed that she is not dating Portuguese former tennis player Joao Monteiro after he was seen with her best friend.
The last year has not been short of drama for former world No. 1 Halep. In October last year, she was hit with a provisional suspension after she tested positive for the banned substance roxadustat at the
US Open.
In May, the two-time Grand Slam champion received a second doping charge due to irregularities in her biological passport. Moreover, her hearing was delayed multiple times before finally taking place in London over the summer. However, Halep is still awaiting the verdict, meaning she was unable to compete at this year's US Open.
Halep denies dating rumors
However, Halep has been in the news recently for a less stressful issue, as rumors spread that she was dating former player Monteiro. He hasn't played since 2020 and has a career-high of No. 237 in the ATP Ranking.
The 29-year-old has since become Halep's hitting partner and coach, but the press started to speculate about whether or not the two were something more.
This escalated after he was seen with one of Halep's closest friends, but the 31-year-old has since taken to Instagram to confirm that she is not romantically involved with Monteiro.
Tennis journalist and commenter José Morgado shared some information about the situation on X, formerly known as Twitter.
"A bit of a situation meanwhile in Romania, where former #1 Simona Halep had to clarify on Instagram that she isn’t dating former Portuguese player João Monteiro, as reported there.
He is working with her as hitting partner/coach & was seen with her BFF. Press got creative," he wrote.
This led fans to react to the news, with one being quick to move on to the ongoing drama about Halep's doping charge controversy.
"I wouldn’t have been minded to be true. but her mind isn’t on a relationship now so I thought isn’t true. Do you think her verdict will be released today / tomorrow? 8, 9 weeks since the hearings. How she’s been treated by ITIA is beyond appalling, don’t you think so!" they wrote.
