Simona
Halep talked about the consequences following her doping ban after her
elimination at the
Miami Open against Paula Badosa. The former world No. 1
revealed that one of the most difficult aspects was that during the suspension,
she couldn't even attend a tennis tournament as a spectator.
The
Romanian played her last official match at the 2022 US Open but was then
suspended by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) after testing
positive for the banned substance Roxadustat. The sanction was initially set to
last for 4 years, but eventually, an appeal by Halep to the Court of
Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reduced the sentence to only 9 months, allowing her
to return to competition immediately, as more than a year had passed since the
start of the sanction.
The 2-times
Grand Slam champion returned at a good tennis level despite the loss to Badosa.
After the match, she spoke with WTA Insider and shared her reaction when she
learned about the CAS decision. “I was talking to my lawyers and I was just
smiling. I told them, ‘Guys, the decision is correct.’ I was so happy. I had
tears after I finished the call with them,” the Romanian said.
“I was just
happy that the truth came out and the decision was fair. So, 18 months of
stress were finished, and I was now able to go play tennis. Because the most
difficult thing was that I was not able to go to watch a tennis match,” she
added.
“This was a
disaster for a tennis player. Because I was suspended, I could not even watch a
tennis match [at a tournament]. So it was difficult.”
Halep, who
is 32 years old, commented that she did not feel resentful about the support
she received during the ban: “No, I didn’t have that darkness. People were
supporting me from the first day until the last one.”
“Seeing
that the opponents supported me and they believed that I was clean gave me
strength and gave me the positive to keep fighting. So no, I didn’t have that.
“One
person, a very important person to me, told me that I should not hate tennis
because tennis did not give me this difficult period. I was thinking about it,
and I said, yeah, tennis is still my passion. I love to do this, and I will be
back when I have the right decision”
Halep
acknowledged that she doesn't have a clear plan now that she's back on the
courts, as her participation in Miami was almost immediate after the news, and
she didn't have much time to define her schedule for the rest of the year:
“This was
so fast. To be honest, I was thinking that I would come back on clay to have a
little bit of time to take a breath and settle down. But the positive feeling
was so big, and I had some people around me who told me you have to go to feel
the energy again,” Halep said.
“It was the
right decision, the best decision to come to Miami, to feel the energy, to feel
the love of people and to feel the freedom again.
“I don’t
have a plan. It’s just the first tournament, and I don’t know what the plan is
going to be, but I want to play as much as possible to get the rhythm back. I’m
old. I’m not that young anymore and I have to manage the comeback very well.
“I don’t
want to get injured. Most people told me to be worried about it because 18
months is a lot and I have to take it slow. So I have to talk to [coach] Carlos
[Martinez] and we’re going to decide together, for sure.”