It was the month of October 2022. Former World Number One, Simona Halep was looking to end her season on a high after not-so-great performances by her standards throughout the year. However, the Romanian tennis star received the biggest blow of her tennis career. Halep received a provisional suspension by the International Tennis Integrity Agency for failing a drug test during the US Open. It was an untimely blow for the 31-year-old, given that she had made a comeback from an injury-laden 2021 season.

At the time of her suspension, Halep was ranked Number 9 on the WTA rankings chart. Owing to her absence from the WTA Tour, the Romanian has dropped to Number 54 in the world. Nonetheless, Halep has received a ray of hope with a massive statement coming her way.

Romanian Tennis Federation’s president backs Simona Halep

Recently, the president of the Romanian Tennis Federation, George Cosac spoke to PRO TV where he revealed his thoughts about Halep’s potential comeback at the US Open later this year. Talking about this, he said, “If you ask me, no,” as reported by Tennis World.

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Further, he also went on to give his opinions if Halep was to come clean. On this note, he said, “If she is innocent, she can claim damages of millions of euros, while she did not play. And if she were clean, they would sanction her because they would lose their whole image. They will give her a minimum suspension to cover the situation they created.”

Just hours after coming to know about her suspension, Halep released a statement, proving her innocence. Additionally, she said that she’ll fight till the very end, knowing that she hadn’t done anything wrong.

ITIA announcement puts Halep’s US Open participation in a limbo

The last Grand Slam of the season, the US Open, recently released its entry list which included Halep’s name. Fans were left confused, knowing that she was suspended but still had her name present on the list. However, ITIA later cleared the air, saying that she is marked provisionally suspended in the list. It means that if she is proven innocent, she can participate, otherwise not.

Halep is already 31 years old and her prime years are passing by. With age not by her side, it remains to be seen if we can see Halep’s best yet again.

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