Simona Halep bites back at Caroline Wozniacki saying: ‘I’m not a cheater’
Simona Halep has hit back at Caroline Wozniacki after the Dane said she should not have been given a Miami Open wild card due to her doping ban.
Halep made her return after more than 500 days due to a suspension handed out following a failed drugs test at the 2022 US Open.
That suspension was initially four-years, a term that would have essentially ended Halep’s career, but she had it reduced to just nine months by the Court of Arbitration of Sport.
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However, that wasn’t enough for Wozniacki, who said a reduced doping ban is still a doping ban and, referring specifically to Halep, players discovered to be cheating should not be given wild cards.
That has understandably hit a nerve with Halep, who had was given a chance to answer her former rival’s comments following her first round defeat to Paula Badosa.
Asked about Wozniacki’s comments, Halep bit back: “Why did she say that? I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t cheat. I didn’t dope.
“So it’s better if we read the decision from CAS that it was a contaminated supplement, it wasn’t doping. I never had something to do with doping. I never doped, so I’m not a cheater.
“Thank you to the tournament for giving me the wild card and have the possibility to play in such a big tournament. It was great to be back.
“Only one person being negative about me is not that important because I have hundreds of people that are giving me love, so I will take that.”
????️ “Why has she said that? I didn’t do anything wrong”
Simona Halep responds to comments made by Caroline Wozniacki that players banned for doping should not receive wild cards on their return to tennis ????pic.twitter.com/BKgyNgeYNi
— Sky Sports Tennis (@SkySportsTennis) March 20, 2024
What did the CAS say about Simona Halep doping?
It is understandable that Halep is so defensive about claims she gave herself an unfair advantage.
She always maintained her innocence and has fought to clear her name. That came to a successful conclusion earlier this month when the CAS said she ‘bore no significant fault of negligence.’
In reducing her ban and clearing her for an immediate return to tennis, the CAS said:
“Having carefully considered all the evidence put before it, the CAS Panel determined that Ms. Halep had established, on the balance of probabilities, that the Roxadustat entered her body through the consumption of a contaminated supplement which she had used in the days shortly before 29 August 2022 and that the Roxadustat, as detected in her sample, came from that contaminated product,” CAS said.
“The CAS Panel has unanimously determined that the four-year period of ineligibility imposed by the ITF Independent Tribunal is to be reduced to a period of ineligibility of nine months starting on 7 October 2022, which period expired on 6 July 2023,” CAS said on Tuesday.
“Although the CAS panel found that Ms. Halep did bear some level of fault or negligence for her violations, as she did not exercise sufficient care when using the Keto MCT supplement, it concluded that she bore no significant fault or negligence.”
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