Simona Halep was recently cleared of her doping ban, but she still remembers the moment when she first learned about it.
One of the most shocking doping bans in recent sporting history is certainly that of Halep. Not only was she a decorated champion and fan favorite, but she found her best tennis and won a WTA 1000 event again weeks prior to the ban.
It was a huge story that went around the world in minutes, and it certainly caught Halep by surprise. A model pro who always did everything the right way, she was stunned when she was notified that her sample was positive, and she spoke about that with Jon Wertheim from Tennis Channel in a recent interview.
“Oh, like a truck hit you. And when I received the email, it was like, ‘It’s a mistake. It cannot be true, this one.’ Yeah, it was a really big pain when this happened, and I never thought that I can live something like this.”
It was a bitter pill for Halep to swallow because not only was it a stain on her impeccable career up until that point, but also because it would be a long battle to prove that she didn’t intentionally dope.
The Romanian ultimately did prove her innocence as the Court of Arbitration for Sports reduced her suspension to only nine months for unintentional doping, and she was able to return recently.
“It was really, really difficult. Firstly because I didn’t know how it happened. And then when I discovered the contaminated supplement, it was a little bit better because you know what happened at least. But yeah, still, it was a disaster to live that emotion.”
Now, Halep is attempting to restart her career, but so far, injuries have been preventing the former world no. 1 from competing regularly.
