In October 2022, 32-year-old Simona Halep edged a little closer to retirement. No, it wasn’t because of her age. Instead, it was because she was found guilty of a doping violation and, in September 2023, received a four-year ban from professional tennis. Considering she was already in the latter stages of her career, the ban may have just preponed her retirement. Needless to say, she isn’t too pleased with this situation, and now, she’s put her coaching team under fire.

Having pleaded not guilty, the Romanian is set for an appeal hearing in February. It would be a turning point in her career that would decide her fate. In light of that, here’s what she had to say about her team.

After ‘dedicating her life’ to tennis, Simona Halep got hard done by her team

In September, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) stated that it had found “substantial evidence” of “intentional” doping carried out by Simona Halep. With a four-year ban to accompany these allegations, the 32-year-old recently opened up about her innocence, revealing that what happened was unintentional. In an interview, she said, “It was not my intention and never has been my intention to do something wrong or something disrespectful to this sport because I have respected everything and I dedicated my life.” As she maintained her innocence, she couldn’t say the same about her coaching staff.

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Halep, who Patrick Mouratoglou coached before the ban, revealed how she had distanced herself from him after the doping case. She said, “It’s true that he went out. I wish he could have done that a little bit earlier. I have stopped working with the academy for a while already.” The feeling of betrayal was quite evident in her tone, something she elaborated on. “When I found myself in this situation, it was difficult to manage because I have always trusted in my teams, previous teams, and everybody that I work with because I felt like trusting, you have a better chance to perform at your maximum,” she added. However, her words are a little ironic.

Back in 2016, it was Maria Sharapova‘s doping scandal that was taking the tennis world by storm. When the Russian received an 18-month ban (reduced to 15 months after an appeal), Simona Halep wasn’t on Sharapova’s side. As reported by Yahoo Sport Australia, the Romanian said, “It’s been a difficult time for tennis, a bit disappointing. I personally check the WADA updates every year, and when I see something, I always pass it on to those who take care of it, to anti-doping, so everything is safe. If you take something, you have to look very carefully first.”

Considering she said this—implying that players should keep a check on whatever they’re ingesting—her words are coming back to bite her. But keeping this aside and considering that she’s blaming her team for putting her in this situation, it may come as a surprise that her team does hold itself accountable for this. At least, that’s what Patrick Mouratoglou had to say.

Patrick Mouratoglou believes in Halep’s innocence as well

Simona Halep may feel like she’s fighting this battle all on her own, but Patrick Mouratoglou has come out in support of her. As quoted by Tennis.com, the French coach said, “There is no way to know it, but I feel responsible for what happened because it’s my team, so me, basically me, who brought her this collagen.” After accepting responsibility, he attested to Halep’s innocence. “This is terrible because you are completely innocent. Your reputation is impacted, hurt by the fact that your name has to do with doping even though you didn’t do any doping.”

That being said, he wants to see the Romanian star back on court, right where she belongs, sooner rather than later. “We have done all possible tests to establish that we are talking about contamination. I’m very confident that this independent tribunal will recognize the fact that she never did doping. She is a victim, and she has to come back to the court and be able to compete as soon as possible.” Mouratoglou wasn’t the only one who came out in support of Halep. A WTA legend expressed her views as well. 18-time Grand Slam champion Chris Evert took to X to claim Halep’s innocence, even siding with her on holding her team accountable.

It remains to be seen whether Halep’s doping ban will be lifted during the February hearing. It will be a three-day hearing from February 7 to 9 next year. If the result doesn’t go in her favor, Halep’s worst fear about retirement might come true.

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