‘Hypocrisy’- Maria Sharapova Fans Turn Furious As 68-Year-Old Chris Evert Extends Heartfelt Support To Ban-Serving Simona Halep

Simona Halep has found herself surrounded by controversies over the past year. And while attempting to escape one, she has found herself trapped in another. The former world number one has been shocked after being accused of a second doping violation as a result of abnormalities in her biological passport, just eight months after being suspended for doping. However, the second doping allegation utterly caught the tennis world off guard. Just as everything appeared to be going wrong for Halep, Chris Evert has displayed her support to the maligned Romanian tennis star.

The American tennis legend has been very candid in expressing her views on the concerns. But her opinion this time has caused havoc in the tennis arena, and fans are confused by her decision to support the Romanian star. 

Tennis fans question Chris Evert’s supportive stand for Simona Halep 

The former tennis player recently took to her Twitter account to answer a fan’s question. She addressed her opinion on the second doping violation charge against the Romanian tennis star. And along with that shared her take on whether Halep can use PEDs or not. “It’s very hard for me to believe Simona would intentionally use PEDs…” she said in response to the fan.

However, the way the 68-year-old supported the two-time Grand Slam champion raised a lot of eyebrows. Prior to the Romanian athlete, Maria Sharapova was also involved in a doping scandal. The 18-time Grand Slam champions’ response to the issue involving the Russian tennis player during her ban for the use of meldonium is now being remembered by tennis fans. 

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A fan wrote, “Funny how u went all in against Sharapova when she admitted her mistake. But defending Simona here who got caught lying about her biological passport. Slow claps. But u do you. Expose your hypocrisy.”

Similarly, the other fans also questioned why Evert supported Halep, and doubted Sharapova.

Further, a fan wrote, “Not Simona but YES Maria? Hypocrisy.”

Meanwhile, others requested Evert to have a clear judgement.

Nevertheless, let’s take a look back at Evert’s reaction when Sharapova was embroiled in a similar controversy. 

What was Evert’s take on Sharapova’s drug controversy? 

7 years ago, the five-time Grand Slam champion was suspended after testing positive for an illegal substance. The 68-year-old’s response at the time was rather different. Several years ago, Lance Armstrong hosted a podcast called “The Forward Podcast”, and the ‘Ice Maiden’ made an appearance in an episode. In it, Evert implied that Sharapova was sending some mixed signals concerning her doping ban. 

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She further added that the Russian tennis diva, running a candy company after discovering that diabetes runs in her family, was a conflict of interest. Unlike with Sharapova’s incident, since Halep failed the doping test for the first time last year, Evert has shown her staunch support for Halep.