Simona Halep shares ramifications of being banned from tennis stemming down to 'disaster' consequence

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.

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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.”

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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”

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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.”