"Is the interview a bunch of unchallenged falsehoods?": Fans reject Simona Halep terming reduction of doping suspension as 'not doing anything wrong' 

Fans have rejected former World No. 1 Simona Halep terming the reduction of her now-nine-month doping suspension 'as not doing anything wrong'. They said that the Romanian's remarks in an interview were just a bunch of unchallenged falsehoods.

Halep, who won the French Open in 2018 and Wimbledon in 2019, was banned from tennis for four years after her positive doping test at the US Open in 2022. However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) lifted the charge of suspected doping stating that her positive test for Roxadustat was unitentional and was caused by a contaminated supplement.

Following this, Simona Halep's four-year ban was reduced to nine months by the CAS, in March this year. The ban, with the reduction applied retroactively, expired last July allowing the Romanian to return to tennis.

Speaking to Tennis Channel's Jon Wertheim, Halep said that she wanted to show the truth and that she did nothing wrong.

"So integrity is, as you said at the beginning, is probably the most important thing for everybody, and I wanted just to show the truth. I fought for this and I knew that day is going to come even if that took so long. I always respected tennis and I wanted people to know, to understand and finally to be said by CAS that I didn't do anything wrong to tennis," Halep said.

"This was the most important victory and I really have it inside, and I would keep it for all my life. Even if I went through some really, really difficult moments, now I feel good," she added.

A lot of fans were far from supportive towards Halep, with one saying that the Romanian was not cleared. The inidividual also questioned the nature of the whole interview.

"9-month ban is not 'being cleared.' Is the entire 'interview' just a bunch of unchallenged falsehoods?" a fan wrote on X.

"Great ! We now know that Simona Halepo is a cheater and Mouratoglou should be banned too," another fan said.

"Lost all respect for halep by how she’s tried to gaslight over this, be grateful your ban was reduced and get on with your career by all means but repeatedly using language to convey she was ‘cleared’ is dishonest and manipulative," a fan stated.

Here are some more reactions from fans:

"She was banned and her trial kept getting pushed but cry harder," a fan said.

"She didnt get cleaned, her punishment reduced means shedid something. She had 9 month ban. How clean is that?" another fan commented.

"Trully unbelievable. In the wrong way," a fan said.

"It was to be expected," another fan said.

"She was not cleared. Y’all are just plain lying now," a fan commented.

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Simona Halep on the involvement of former coach Patrick Mouratoglou in doping saga: "Definitely was not an intentional mistake"

Patrick Mouratoglou with Simona Halep at a practice session during the US Open 2022

Simona Halep has cleared the air on the involvement of her coach Patrick Mouratoglou in the doping saga stating that it definitely was not an intentional mistake. She said that she didn't bear any grudges against the famous coach.

"Definitely was not an intentional mistake or how should I say? That he wanted to make something wrong to me. No. And I heard many voices [say] that I was manipulated by him. That’s not true," the Romanian said in an interview with veteran journalist Jon Werthiem.

Simona Halep said that unless there is trust in the team it would not be possible to perform at the maximum level.

"He was my coach and I always trusted the people I work with. So I trusted, I work with his academy with his people and everything was fine." she said.

The Romanian is next scheduled to compete at the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem by using a protective ranking.