Simona Halep has been provisionally suspended since October 2022 after it was announced that she had tested positive for the banned substance roxadustat. In this interview with Tennis Majors, the two-time major champion and former world No 1 says she has evidence to prove her innocence but that she has so far been denied her right to be heard by an independent court. She hopes her hearing will take place at the end of May.
The full interview on tennismajors.com
The full interview on tennismajors.com
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 Well, I wanted to stay silent, but now I feel the need to speak loud to my supporters, to my fans.
00:07 I'm not asking for a special treatment, I just want to be judged.
00:11 How much longer this is going to take?
00:13 I don't really know how I am, because the situation has been really hard and emotionally heavy.
00:27 The stress is huge, because I never thought I would face something like this.
00:32 Always I've been against doping and I'm a big supporter of a clean sport.
00:38 So, at the beginning I didn't know how to handle it, but over the time I just tried to stay calm.
00:46 And actually I feel confident, because I know I'm clean and I didn't take anything knowing that it's banned, a banned substance.
00:55 And this makes me feel a little bit better, but I'm trying to handle it as much as possible.
01:02 Well, I wanted to stay silent until the case will be solved.
01:13 I didn't want to get out and say, because it was very emotional and actually, as I said, I couldn't handle it very well.
01:21 But now I feel the need to speak loud to my supporters, to my fans, to the public,
01:28 because I'm sure that they really want to know why it's taking so long.
01:32 And I really felt the need to do that. That's why I'm here today.
01:36 Knowingly I have not taken any banned substance, because I'm a big supporter of a clean sport and I've always been against doping.
01:50 Always I've been careful to check all the components of the supplements, to make sure that everything is authorized.
01:56 It was a shock and I didn't know how to handle it.
01:59 No, I didn't know what Roxaduxat is. I had no idea, I never heard about it before.
02:05 So I just went online a little bit to find out something about it.
02:10 And it was like something big, because I read that it's a big substance, banned substance.
02:17 How did you get to know that it's a banned substance?
02:23 I had no clue at the beginning from where this substance is coming from.
02:29 And then I just wanted to ask the experts to explain to me how this happened and where it is coming from.
02:39 As I said, I never heard about it, so I didn't know where I could take it and actually to be in my urine.
02:47 The experts have worked a lot to find the reason of this contamination.
02:51 They found out that the supplement was contaminated in a very low quantity of substance.
02:57 A contamination is when someone takes an authorized supplement, but the company who sells it made a mistake
03:05 and there is a very low quantity of a banned substance that should not be there.
03:10 I have sent the evidence to the ITF and they denied it.
03:15 I sent it in December when we worked on it and the experts sent me the results that it's a contamination.
03:24 And as I said, ITF denied it and we are still going through it.
03:29 Since the ITF denies it, the only chance of this case to be solved is to go to the tribunal to have a hearing about my case
03:38 and there to present all the evidence that my positive test is a contaminated supplement.
03:45 The hearing on 28th of February didn't happen because ITF requested more time to do additional testing.
03:57 Even if I was looking forward to that, I agreed and the hearing was postponed on 24th of March.
04:02 The ITF requested that the hearing on 24th of March should be cancelled.
04:08 I did not agree with that because, as the rule says, a player that is provisionally suspended
04:14 is entitled to get an expedited hearing.
04:19 Because everything takes so long, I asked the ITF to lift up my suspension to be able to play, but they also refused it.
04:33 I've been notified in October that my urine test in August was tested positive.
04:39 Since then, I had 10 tests in a row that all of them are negative, but it was blood and urine at the same time.
04:47 The next step is that the hearing will take place at the end of May,
04:52 but it is very fragile because the ITF said that they might cancel it as well.
04:56 If they do that, it will be like almost 8 months since I've been provisionally suspended for the first time,
05:04 and I believe that it's not fair to stay 8 months without even being judged by the tribunal.
05:10 Emotionally, it has been not easy the whole period, and I just felt the need to speak loud to my fans, to my supporters,
05:20 actually to the public, because I'm sure they really want to know what is going on and why it takes so long.
05:27 I wanted actually at the beginning to remain silent until the case is solved, but it's too heavy,
05:34 so I felt that it's really good for me actually, at least, to speak it loud.
05:45 It's been 7 months since I'm provisionally suspended, even if I have all the evidence since December.
05:52 I'm not asking for a special treatment, I just want to be judged.
05:56 I'm thinking how much longer this is going to take.
05:59 Until now, it is the hardest battle that I faced in my life, in my career.
06:12 I have received a letter from the ATF telling me that I've been tested positive with an extremely low quantity of Roxaduxat.
06:21 The first thing I did was texting Patrick, my coach, to ask him if I understand well that my urine test turned positive.
06:30 Since that moment, I could count on him, on his help, and because he was next to me on every step, we could find the truth.
06:41 I felt the support of people, of my fans, and actually of everyone.
06:47 I felt that they don't believe that I normally took something that is banned,
06:52 and this made me feel stronger to come back and to work harder to get the level that I've been before or even more.
07:00 So I'm working on that, and I really want to come back to tennis and to play at the high level.
07:06 It looks like they really got my personality and the way I am, so that makes me really happy and gives me power to fight for the truth and to come back to tennis.
07:17 I really want to play again because I love this sport, and I really want to play for the big titles again.
07:29 I have worked, I kept playing because I had the hope that the case is going to be solved.
07:35 I had many delays, which was not easy to stay focused, but I did my best,
07:40 and I stayed actually as much as possible focused to work and to practice as much as possible.
07:48 Well, until now, tennis has always been my life, and I feel that I want to do it again.
07:55 When I come back, I want to be as strong as I've been before, even more, if it's possible.
08:02 I'm working for that, and I know that I'm going to struggle because I have almost eight months
08:08 without an official match and all the pressure that it was about this case,
08:14 but I strongly believe that if I work hard, I can be again at the high level.
08:25 At this age, I think it's really tough to lose days, weeks and months because you are scared also
08:32 about the injuries when you don't have official matches. It is more risky,
08:37 and if the time passes like this, the harder it is to come back.
08:42 [BLANK_AUDIO]