By Victor Kanayo
Romania tennis star Simona Halep has been suspended by the Tennis Integrity Unit.
The substance found in her body accordung to findings is roxadustat, a substance classified as an EPO by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
The drug itself improves blood oxygenation. Halep exercised her right to request a counter-analysis, which has already been performed.
Halep, 31, is the current No.9 in the WTA rankings, and has been ranked No.1 in the world in the past.
She has won 24 WTA titles. Among them, Roland Garros in 2018, Wimbledon in 2019 and the WTA Finals in 2014.
She also was victorious in the Mutua Madrid Open she won in 2016 and 2017.
The sample with the banned substance was taken at the most recent US Open.
This is the biggest doping shock in women’s tennis since Maria Sharapova was found with meldonium in her system in 2016.
Halep has been working with Patrick Mouratoglou as coach in recent times, and Mouratoglou, who had previously worked with Serena Williams before her retirement.
In the 2022 season, Halep had won the WTA 1000 in Toronto and the WTA 250 in Melbourne.
Following the announcement of her test result, Simona Halep has issued a statement through social media, noting that she starts “the hardest match” of her life, to prove the “truth”, and that the amount off the chemical detected in her system was an ‘extremely small’ dose.
