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Tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou faced the heat from tennis fans on the internet after his name appeared in the official ruling of Simona Halep's doping scandal. The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) recently posted the decision on social media.
Halep hired Mouratoglou as her coach in April 2022, shortly after parting ways with Darren Cahill. Later in September, she decided to end her season prematurely due to a nose surgery.
Halep hasn't returned to the court since, as she was provisionally suspended for consuming roxodustat, a prohibited substance, during the US Open. After much deliberation, she has been banned by the ITIA from playing tennis for four years.
The 126-page decision posted by the ITIA mentions Mouratoglou "recommending" Halep to change her supplements. As soon as the documents went public on social media, tennis buffs pounced on the French coach.
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One fan wrote:
"So Patrick Mouratoglou was involved in suggesting Simona Halep to replace her supplements. That guy is such a shady person. I hope all WTA AND ATP players take a note of this and cut ties with that guy."
The decision also mentioned that the stimulation from the usage of the prohibited substance "was effective from at least March 2022 to September 2022". That made a user speculate about the coach's apparent involvement.
The user shared a post (dated April 4, 2022) from Simona Halep's social media account in which she could be seen posing in front of Mouratoglou's tennis academy.
"I'm sorry but this can't be just a coincidence," the user wrote.
After Halep announced her break in September 2022, Mouratoglou joined forces with Holger Rune. His partnership with Rune ended earlier this month after the youngster failed to make his mark at the 2023 US Open.
Another user talked about their split and wrote:
"I hope Holger is done with him for good."
Here are a few more reactions:
Simona Halep - "I trusted Patrick Mouratoglou 100% so I wanted his people to be in charge of me"
After roping in Patrick Mouratoglou, Simona Halep revealed on social media that she was close to quitting the sport due to a lack of motivation but the French coach's presence made her decide otherwise.
"In February, I was very close to stop tennis because I didn’t believe I have enough power to come back to the top 10. Thanks to Patrick, I slowly started to believe that I still can play a good level of tennis," she wrote in an Instagram post on April 7, 2022.
The two-time Grand Slam winner further mentioned that she aimed to reclaim a spot in the WTA top 10 rankings and banked on Mouratoglou and his team for support.
"My goal was clear: I gave myself one year to get back to the top 10. I trusted Patrick 100% so I wanted his people and only his people to be in charge of me," Simona Halep added.
