Simona Halep breaks silence on Jannik Sinner avoiding drugs ban
Simona Halep has had her say after Jannik Sinner escaped a doping ban.
Simona Halep has had her say after Jannik Sinner avoided a drugs ban despite testing positive for the banned substance clostebol twice in March.
The Italian was able to quickly and successfully appeal both of his provisional suspensions, allowing him to continue playing. Last month, an independent tribunal ruled that he “bore no fault or negligence” for the two anti-doping violations.
Halep was previously banned for four years after testing positive for another prohibited substance, roxadustat. She appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and her suspension was reduced to nine months, allowing her to return.
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The two-time Grand Slam champion made her comeback at the Miami Open earlier this year after having her ban slashed upon appeal but she has barely played since due to a knee injury. Halep has now reacted to Sinner’s doping saga for the first time and claimed that she was “judged differently” to the ATP No. 1.
“I don't think it's about defense. I think it's about something very clear and visible,” Halep said, per SpotMedia.ro. “I was judged completely differently, and I suffered a lot. I waited a lot, which I don't find fair at all.”
Halep, herself a former world No. 1, wants to see consistency across the board in the way players are treated during doping cases. She continued: “I believe all athletes should have the same judgment and be treated equally, regardless of whether they are No. 1 or No. 200.
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“I don't think what happened is fair. It's a subject I would like to leave behind and continue with my life because life is beautiful.” Halep isn’t the only one who has called for equality between players who find themselves in a similar situation.
Britain’s Liam Broady claimed he would have been banned if he was in Sinner’s position. And the Professional Tennis Players Association - co-founded by Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil - wants to see players afforded the same treatment as the Italian.
However, while Halep and Sinner both argued that their positive tests were the result of contamination, the Romanian’s case was arguably more complicated. Sinner’s team immediately knew the source of contamination as soon as they were notified of the positive tests.
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The world No. 1’s fitness trainer Umberto Ferrara bought over-the-counter spray Trofodermi in Italy. His physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi then cut his finger on a scalpel during Indian Wells and used Ferrera’s Trofodermi spray each morning for just over a week.
He continued to massage Sinner without wearing gloves. The 23-year-old often has small cuts and sores on his back and feet. And the three experts ruled this was a plausible explanation for contamination, lifting his provisional suspensions. An independent tribunal held on August 15 also accepted this explanation.
In Halep’s case, the 32-year-old argued that she had taken a collagen supplement which was contaminated with roxadustat. An independent tribunal did not accept this argument during a hearing in 2023 and banned her for four years. But in February of this year, CAS partially upheld her appeal and cut her suspension to seven months.
In a statement, CAS said: “Although the CAS Panel found that Ms. Halep did bear some level of fault or negligence for her violations, as she did not exercise sufficient care when using the Keto MCT supplement, it concluded that she bore no significant fault or negligence.”
