Tennis star Simona Halep confident of being cleared of doping by Court of Arbitration for Sport

The world beneath Simona Halep’s feet crumbled last year when she was found guilty of doping. 

The two-time Grand Slam champion has now been banned from tennis for four years, until 2026, but she’s hoping that ruling will soon be reversed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

A hearing for her case has been set in February after the International Tennis Integrity Agency found she deliberately took performance-enhancing drugs. 

Halep however, says that the verdict is wrong.

“It’s very clear that it was a contamination. Three days before the positive urine test, I was negative in blood and urine. So I’ve been told at the beginning that it’s a very, it’s an extremely low quantity of this substance, a banned substance, and in those three days I could not have doped. It was not my intention and never has been the intention to do something wrong or something disrespectful to this sport, because I have respected everything and I dedicated my life. My principles are not like this, so I didn’t think to cheat in tennis.”

There was another twist in the tale last month when her high-profile coach, Patrick Mouratoglu, admitted after a year’s silence that his technical team were to blame for giving Halep a contaminated substance.

She’s expressed great relief about the revelation but also regret as it may prove to be crucial for her return to court. 

“And I’ve always been open to learn from people. That’s why you hire people, because you need the information, you need to be better. So I always trusted this and my trust is broken a little bit right now. And in the future, I don’t know how it’s going to be if I can trust again. And probably I have to learn, because this is my principle in life, if you hire somebody and you work with that person, you have to trust.”

Watch the full interview with Simona Halep on Euronews from 19h CET on Friday 15 December.