The tennis world has been shaken by a doping scandal, the largest since 2016, when Maria Sharapova was disqualified for using meldonium.
On Friday it became known that the former world number one Simona Halep was suspended from the competition in connection with a positive test.
A sample of a Romanian tennis player taken during the US Open was found to contain the banned drug roxadustat.
Reportedly, the athlete was notified of this on October 7, after which she requested an autopsy of the B sample. However, re-analysis only confirmed the presence of a substance from the WADA list.
Roxadustat is a drug for the treatment of anemia caused by chronic kidney disease.
It stimulates the production of hemoglobin and red blood cells, and also increases the endogenous production of erythropoietin.
This substance was banned from use in sports in 2015 - three years before it was first approved for mass use in medicine.
As USADA wrote seven years ago, athletes can use roxadustat to increase the number of red blood cells, which will increase the delivery of oxygen to working muscles for increased endurance.
That is, this substance is doping in the most direct sense, an analogue of the infamous erythropoietin, which caught many athletes.
At the same time, Halep categorically denies the intentional use of a prohibited substance.
According to her, she does not know how the drug got into her body.
“Today begins the most difficult match of my life: the fight for the truth.
I was told that my test had tested positive for a substance called roxadustat in an extremely small amount.
This was the greatest shock of my life.
Throughout my career, I have never even thought about cheating, because it is completely contrary to the values that were instilled in me.
Faced with such injustice, I feel completely confused and betrayed, ”Simone wrote on Twitter.
The first reaction to what happened came from the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA), established by Novak Djokovic.
It stated that they would seek a fair trial for Halep and support her right to a possible appeal.
Also, the compatriot was supported by the 39th racket of the world Sorana Kyrstya.
The athlete refused to believe that a colleague deliberately took illegal substances.
“Although we may not be best friends, I have known Simone for decades and know her well enough to firmly believe that she will never voluntarily touch any doping drug.
The essence of tennis is fair play, not competition.
She is an excellent athlete, and I believe that she won thanks to her own talents, ”Kyrstya wrote in one of the social networks.
In a similar vein, the ex-husband of the athlete, Toni Jurich, spoke out, with whom they lived for a year in marriage and divorced this fall.
“I swear, this girl, my ex-wife, is obsessed with one thing - honor!
You can take anything away from Simone, but if you take away her honor, her sense of justice, you will simply kill her!
She will no longer be human!
I don't know what happened to this test, but it's most likely a bug.
She wouldn't do that even if her arm were cut off to prevent her from playing tennis.
Simone would never cheat,” said the Romanian billionaire.
Halep was indeed known for her principles.
Perhaps even redundant.
At one time, she spoke quite harshly against Sharapova when she returned to the tour after being disqualified.
The Romanian, in particular, was outraged by the decision of the organizers of the tournament in Stuttgart to give Maria a wild card.
“In my opinion, for children, for young players, it is not good to promote, help tennis players who have been disqualified for doping.
If the press is more interested in Sharapova coming here, then that's their decision.
But I don't see that as a positive thing, because she paid the price for her actions.
She was convicted of doping, so I can’t admire her anymore, ”Simona said then, adding that she carefully controls all the medicines she takes, and also always studies the updated WADA prohibited list.
On the Internet, of course, they did not fail to recall this story.
The network is full of new memes about this, in a sense, curious situation, when a person who accused another of taking doping was himself under suspicion.
The discovery of a prohibited drug was preceded by a rather difficult period in the career and life of Halep.
In 2021, she did not win a single tournament, moreover, she never even reached the finals and for the first time since 2013 finished the season outside the top 10 - on the 20th line.
In February of this year, by her own admission, Simone was close to quitting the sport - she did not believe that she could return to the elite.
For a while, she even managed without a coach, but then she began working with Serena Williams' coach Patrick Muratoglu.
At the same time, the athlete, according to her, experienced serious psychological problems, as she believed that she should play better and win more matches.
In parallel with this, the tennis player was going through a divorce from her husband.
All this tension led to a panic attack during Rolland Garros.
This was followed by a victory at the Masters in Toronto and a complete failure at the US Open: the ex-first racket of the world lost in the first round to the qualifier Daria Snigur.
After a painful defeat in New York, the athlete said she was experiencing psychological devastation and finished the season ahead of schedule.
In order not to waste time, she decided to have nose surgery to get rid of a long-term breathing problem, and at the same time to correct the aesthetic component.
According to Halep, she "never liked" her nose.
By the way, this is not the first plastic surgery of the athlete.
In 2008, Simone reduced her breasts, as she prevented her from fully moving around the court and provoked back pain.
Now the athlete will have to go through an even more stressful period, but she is determined to fight to the end to prove her innocence.
“I believe that sooner or later the truth will come out.
It's not about titles or money.
It's about honor and the love that I've had for tennis for 25 years now," Halep concluded.