"Don't think Simona Halep is the first": Former World No.1 Ilie Nastase brings Serena Williams into doping scandal with bold claim

Controversial tennis legend, Ilie Nastase has once again come out with a big claim surrounding Serena Williams as the doping scandal involving Simona Halep rumbles on and he suggested that the American great could have taken the same substance.

Halep was given a four-year ban from the sport for doping by the ITIA in September due to the substance Roxudustat with Patrick Mouratoglou who also coached Williams in the past admitting fault both in court and in the public domain for Halep having the substance in the first place.

Halep has since been found guilty of a further breach after irregularities in her ABP (Athlete Biological Passport) and has not played since her opening round loss to Daria Snigur at the 2022 US Open. She recently has been at the Court of Arbitration for Sport fighting her case.

“We brought her collagen from a company. This collagen happened to be contaminated. There was no way to know it. But I feel responsible for what happened because it’s my team—so me, basically—who brought her this collagen,” he said in a video on his Instagram account in November.

“I think that they (Mouratoglou’s staff) also included Serena Williams and others. If they gave it to Simona, they certainly gave it to the other players with whom he worked. I think so, I don’t think it’s Simona Halep [who] is the first to receive this from Mouratoglou,” Nastase said.

But it isn't the first time that Nastase has made a far out claim on Serena Williams' doping saying before that her physique was the result of doping practices. “Russia’s image when it comes to sport suffered a lot because of doping, but it’s pretty clear in Serena’s case as well. Don’t you see how she looks like? No one controls the Americans when it comes to doping. If the truth came to light, all big tournaments would disappear, all sponsors would leave. You can’t even imagine."