Simona Halep has spoken out after returning from a doping suspension earlier this year.
After her drug punishment was lowered earlier this year, Simona Halep thought back on it (Image: Getty)
Simona Halep claimed that during her doping ban, she felt as though she was “in jail.”
In October 2022, the former world No. 1 received a four-year ban after being placed on temporary suspension. She was able to successfully appeal and get it shortened to nine months, which meant she could come back in March.
Halep has now disclosed that she was prevented from going to a Jannik Sinner match when she was suspended.
Due to injuries and lack of ranking, the two-time Grand Slam champion has seldom played since rejoining the circuit, forcing her to rely on wildcards to enter events. Despite equating her experience to being incarcerated, she is nevertheless delighted to be back.
She said to We Are Tennis, “You know, I’ve never been in jail and hopefully I never will be, but they say, a lot of people told me it looks like you are in jail.” “I was unable to attend a tennis tournament. The most challenging task was this.
A person suspended from a sport is not only prohibited from participating. Additionally, they are not permitted to participate in any official tennis events sponsored by national tennis organizations, the ATP, WTA, ITF, or Grand Slams.
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Halep, who trains with Sinner, and her old coach, Darren Cahill, were therefore unable to witness Sinner compete at an ATP Masters 1000 event in Paris. “They told me that I wanted to see Sinner in Paris, but I was unable to do so,” she continued.
“Well, what went wrong that I can’t watch a match?” This seems like too much to me. It seemed almost like a relief, and the light returned when I gained my freedom. Halep claimed she found it difficult to watch tennis from a distance after being unable to attend a match.
“I wasn’t really watching,” she admitted. “Because knowing that I’m banned and that I can’t even play or watch in life was too painful.” “I’m not going to watch TV,” I declared. In two years, I believe I saw a maximum of eight or ten matches.
Since her comeback from suspension in March, Halep has only participated in two competitions. She was given a wildcard into the Miami Open right away, however, she was defeated in a set by Paula Badosa. Then, in May, she participated in a WTA 125k in Paris and withdrew in the first round. Since then, she has been battling a knee problem.
“It has been a very difficult period (almost two years) mentally and emotionally for me, and struggling physically on top of that definitely doesn’t help,” she posted on social media last month. I’ve made the decision to stop training and playing despite discomfort and instead take the time necessary to heal properly. Although it has always been in my nature to want to return as quickly as possible, I am a human being, not a machine, and I need time to heal from everything that has happened to me.
