"Shocked" - Simona Halep professes innocence after 4-year doping ban from ITIA, vows to clear her name of 'false allegations'

Simona Halep has professed her innocence after the ITIA (International Tennis Integrity Agency) handed her a four-year ban for breaching the anti-doping programme. She said that she's "shocked and disappointed" by the decision.

The ITIA ruled in favor of banning the Romanian from the sport, alleging that she had "intentionally" breached anti-doping measures with her intake of Roxadustat. Halep tested positive for the prohibited substance at the US Open last year and has remained on the sidelines since then.

Responding to the ban, Halep reiterated that she hs never tested positive for any prohibited substance before August last year. Interestingly, the positive test came just after she had decided to adjust her nutritional supplements based on the advice from her team.

The two-time Grand Slam champion, therefore, insisted that it must have been contaminated with Roxadustat during manufacturing -- the only reason she tested positive for the first time in her career.

"I believe in a clean sport and in almost two decades as a professional tennis player, through hundreds of tournaments and two Grand Slam titles, I have taken 200 blood and urine tests to check for prohibited substances - all of which have been clean, until August 29, 2022," Simona Halep said in a statement released on social media.

"Ahead of the hard court season in 2022, upon recommendation from my trusted team and physiotherapist, I adjusted my nutritional supplements. None of the listed ingredients included any prohibited substance; however, we now know - and the tribunal agreed - one of them was contaminated with roxadustat. I was tested almost weekly after my initial positive test through early 2023, all of which came back negative," she added.

Simona Halep further proclaimed that she will continue to do everything in her power to clear her name in the coming days and return to the courts as soon as possible.

Apart from appealing to the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport), the former World No. 1 also plans to take legal action against the supplement company for providing her with contaminated supplements.

“I have never knowingly or intentionally used any prohibited substance. I refused to accept their decision of a four-year ban. While I am grateful to finally have an outcome following numerous unfounded delays and a feeling of living in purgatory for over a year, I am both shocked and disappointed by their decision.

"I am continuing to train and do everything in my power to clear my name of these false allegations and return to the court. I intend to appeal this decision to The Court of Arbitration for Sport and pursue all legal remedies against the supplement company in question," Simona Halep said.

---

Simona Halep: "The ITIA brought an ABP charge only after its expert group learned my identity"

Simona Halep

During the announcement of the ban, the ITIA had revealed that 51 blood samples from Simona Halep's ABP (Athlete Biological Passport) were analysed before an independent tribunal concluded that she had breached the anti-doping rules.

Halep, however, insisted that the ABP charge was brought only after the expert group learned about her identity, thereby biasing against her. Furthermore, the Romanian alleged that the experts did not take into consideration the fact that she had not tested positive for any banned substance in the years before or even after.

"Despite this evidence, the ITIA brought an ABP charge only after its expert group learned my identity, causing two out of three to suddenly change their opinion in favor of ITIA's allegations. The ITIA relied solely on the opinions of these experts who looked only at my blood parameters - which I've maintained for more than 10 years in the same range," Simona Halep said.

"This group ignored the fact no prohibited substance has ever been found in my blood or urine samples with the sole exception of one August 29 positive test for roxadustat, which was present at an extremely low level and which, when considering my negative test three days prior, could only have been caused by accidental exposure to roxadustat," she added.