The International Tennis Integrity Agency recently banned Simona Halep from participation in professional tennis for doping, and the French coach Patrick Mouratoglou has stated that he feels accountable for it. Mouratoglou stated confidently at the same moment that the restriction would be lifted.
The French coach claims in a new Instagram video that his team gave her the reportedly contaminated collagen supplement, which she claims caused her to test positive for the drug roxadustat after the 2022 US Open. This, he claims, set off a sequence of events that placed doubt on the former world No. 1’s tennis career.
Mouratoglou explained that he felt accountable for Simona Halep’s unfortunate circumstances, calling Halep an innocent victim who never engaged in deliberate doping.
After Halep’s positive test result, Mouratoglou, who had been working with her for less than six months, gave an explanation for his comments. Mouratoglou said: “There is no way to know it, but I feel responsible for what happened because it’s my team, so basically me, who brought her this collagen.”
He added: “We have done all possible tests to establish that we are talking about contamination. I’m very confident that this independent tribunal will recognize that she never did doping; she was a victim, and she has to come back to the court and compete as soon as possible.”
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Simona Halep in 2023
Currently the world no.578, the Romanian played her last match on the 29th of August 2022 when she was overcome by world no.133 Daria Snigur 6-2 0-6 6-4 in the 1st round of the U.S. Open (draw).
This season Halep achieved an overall 39-11 match record.
Simona Halep |
| Embed from Getty Images |
