"They kept it a secret"- Simona Halep refuses to utter Iga Swiatek's name; continues to call out seeming differential treatment in doping row

Simona Halep recently refused to take Iga Swiatek's name as she kept up her criticism of the treatment meted out to the Pole over her doping row. Furthermore, Halep also compared her own harsh experience after testing positive for a prohibited substance with the experiences of Swiatek and Jannik Sinner.

The Romanian herself was given a four-year suspension in the aftermath of testing positive for Roxadustat at the 2022 US Open. The ban was reduced to nine months earlier this year after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) heard the former World No. 1's appeal against the four-year suspension.

Since Halep had already served nine months of the ban, she was allowed to return to action immediately, and she subsequently made her comeback at the Miami Open.

However, both Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek were allowed to continue playing after much milder punishments for their doping violations. While Sinner himself is still awaiting a CAS hearing into the World Anti-Doping Agency's appeal against his case, Swiatek accepted a one-month ban, which has already ended and was inclusive of her provisional suspension.

Recently, Simona Halep told The Telegraph that she finds Sinner and Swiatek's respective cases strange because of the way they were kept confidential and only revealed after their resolutions. Halep compared it to the fact that her own case was not handled in such a manner.

"What I believe is not fair, either, is that they announced my case straight away, and I got all the heat from the press, and for these two players they kept it secret, and they just said about the case when everything was done, so it's very weird," Halep said.

The two-time Major winner went on to explain how she had pleaded with the concerned authorities to let her continue playing, but to no avail. She also compared this, without naming Sinner and Swiatek, to the Italian and Pole being allowed to compete even when the investigations into their doping violations were ongoing.

"And I asked also to lift the provisional suspension to be able to play. I said, 'If you believe in the end that I am guilty, you take the points back and all the money and everything, but let me play,' because I wanted to keep the rhythm. I asked this about two or three times, but now they could play," Simona Halep added.

Halep also stated her difficulty in understanding how Swiatek served a three-week ban initially, returned to play the WTA Finals and Billie Jean King Cup Finals, and then served another brief period of suspension.

"The woman player - I don't want to give name, you know who I'm talking about - she had the three-week suspension, but then she played two events, and then she again gets suspension. What is this? I mean, I don't understand. So I feel it is not fair," Halep concluded.

The Romanian had previously taken to Instagram to vent her frustrations at the handling of Swiatek's doping row.

"Why is there such a big difference in treatment and judgment?" - Simona Halep on contrasting approaches to her and Iga Swiatek's doping violations

Simona Halep (Source: Getty)

In the immediate aftermath of the revelation that Iga Swiatek tested positive for the prohibited substance trimetrazidine (TMZ), Simona Halep shared a lengthy post on Instagram. Via the post, Halep laid bare how it feels for her to see cases "identical" to hers being approached differently. The Romanian also revisited her personal struggles when she was serving her own suspension.

"I stand and ask myself, why is there such a big difference in treatment and judgment? I can’t find and I don’t think there can be a logical answer. It can only be bad will from ITIA, the organization that has done absolutely everything to destroy me despite the evidence," Simona Halep wrote.

"How is it possible that in identical cases happening around the same time ITIA to have completely different approaches to my detriment. How could I accept that the WTA and the players council did not want to return me the ranking that I deserved ?! I lost two years of my career, I lost many nights when I couldn’t sleep, thoughts, anxiety, questions without answers," she added later.

Despite Simona Halep having finally made her comeback earlier in 2024, the Romanian looked rusty across all four tournaments she played in throughout the year. She ended the season ranked a lowly World No. 879.