Simona Halep Stands Her Ground Amid Suspension For Failed US Open Drug Test

Simona Halep had a tumultuous 2022, both professionally and personally. The tennis pro called it quits with her husband, billionaire Toni Iuruc, in September after being married for less than a year. Following the announcement of the divorce, a tabloid in Halep's home country of Romania speculated that the 2018 French Open winner's relationship with her coach Patrick Mouratoglou was to blame for causing a rift in her marriage, per Tennis World. 

Earlier in the year, Halep struggled on the court when she suffered a panic attack during a match at the French Open in May. "It's new and I didn't know how to handle it," she told Eurosport at the time (via CNN). "It was tough to breathe and I was not very clear in what I'm doing." Halep believed that the additional nerves were due to various injuries in the preceding years coupled with anxiety over the COVID-19 pandemic. "My brain was not very strong," Halep said while adding that she would bounce back.

By September — around the time of her divorce — the Romanian announced that she was shutting down for the year after undergoing elective nose surgery. "I was going through so many anxious moments and I thought it is time to stop cause it is emotionally unhealthy," she wrote in a Twitter post at the time. The next month Halep failed a drug test, and faced being away from the game for much longer than anticipated.

On October 21, the International Tennis Integrity Agency announced that Simona Halep had tested positive for Roxadustat and was immediately placed under provisional suspension, per ESPN. The sample was taken during her appearance in the U.S. Open, and Halep could face up to a four year ban from the sport. Players can reduce the ban, usually by a year, if they confess to doping, but Halep revealed she planned to dispute the findings.

After the news of the positive drug test was released, Halep took to social media to release a statement claiming the charges of doping were erroneous. "Today begins the hardest match of my life: a fight for the truth," she wrote in an Instagram statement. The 2019 Wimbledon champ vehemently denied using performance enhancing drugs to gain an edge. "I will fight until the end to prove that I never knowingly took any prohibited substance and I have faith that sooner or later, the truth will come out," Halep added. Both fans and fellow players were quick to come to her defense. "With you all the way Simona it's [heart emoji] unfair but you will win this fight," tennis pro Alizé Cornet replied in the comment section.

In 2017, Halep was critical of when Maria Sharapova was given a wild card entry into tennis tournaments after being banned from the sport for 15 months following a positive drug test. Per Fox Sports, Halep said, "It's not OK to help with a wild card the player that was banned for doping."