Patrick Mouratoglou and staff appear in court allegedly to take responsibility for banned supplement during Simona Halep appeal case

Patrick Mouratoglou reportedly has appeared in court in Switzerland to again admit responsibility for Simona Halep taking contaminated substances for collagen which spiked the positive test for Roxudustat as the former World No.1's case continues behind closed doors at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

According to Euronews Romania, Mouratoglou left the hearing very quickly only staying for a short amount of time alongside the physiotherapist who issued the supplement Candice Cohier and Frederic Lefebvre who is the director of the physical training department for the Mouratoglou Academy.

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The former coach of Halep's presence was seemingly only to confirm they had changed her supplements and that they chose the ones later that had been contaminated. The sources to Euronews Romania later said that Halep took the new substances for five days with one dose contaminated. But with these facts merely being confirmed after being priorly established, it doesn't exonerate the Romanian from liability and instead would potentially make the possible reduction of the suspension stand. The trio will supposedly not be heard from again as the trial continues.

"There are two options that I could consider as conclusions to this situation: either he did not want to declare very much, which is unlikely, or the referees' questions were direct and simple, and the hearing lasted very little, and the panel of arbitrators considered itself clear about the aspects that concern it," said Sabin Gherdan, a lawyer who is specialised in sports law to Euronews Romania.

Being suspended for four years, it is unlikely that a verdict will be reached as of yet with the trial set to last three days and no verdict date being given as Halep's wait continues. But Mouratoglou at the very least has seemingly tried his best to help his former colleague in terms of her fight to get her ban appealed or quashed. With it being behind closed doors also, the information is very much limited in terms of when a verdict will be given and the facts of the case.

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Philip T Boosey

@PhilipTBoosey

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Simona had dinner with Patrick tonight. Big day tomorrow as he and the physio who gave Simona the supplement will be at the hearing.

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