Simona Halep‘s doping saga has become a talking point for the tennis community, with many certain of the Romanian player’s innocence as she unknowingly consumed the banned substance. Even the former American tennis star Andy Roddick recently had ‘sympathies’ for Halep as he talked about how he thinks that the WTA player was a bit ‘manipulated.’

In the latest episode of ‘The Served with Andy Roddick’, the 2003 US Open champion was involved in a conversation with Kim Clijsters as they talked about Halep’s doping saga. The former Belgian tennis pro said, “I have a lot of thoughts, first of all, I think, every situation, although, it comes out as a positive doping result. I think in Halep’s situation, it’s completely different. She tested positive unknowingly with the contaminated supplement.”

Clijsters also talked about how Simona Halep’s team made a big mistake as they gave her the contaminated supplement. She said, “But I think in Simona’s case and again we come back to, you know, we talked about previously like her team made such a big mistake….”- and then, Roddick intervened and made a big claim. He said, “By the way, on that point, I have a lot of sympathy for her because of misplaced trust.”

The former tennis ace added, “We should know, we should test, we shouldn’t blindly trust, she did, and I feel like she was kind of manipulated a little bit. So, I completely agree with you on that point.” Meanwhile, Roddick also compared Simona Halep’s doping saga to that of Maria Sharapova, as he talked about how it is ‘judged’ differently.

‘Different because of the reputation of meldonium’ – Andy Roddick on Maria Sharapova’s doping ban

Just like Halep, the former Russian tennis player’s competitive journey was hindered by her doping ban as she tested positive for consuming a banned substance, meldonium. Notably, in the same podcast show, Andy Roddick talked about how Sharapova’s doping saga is judged differently by many in the tennis community. He said, “Sharapova, I feel like you know, she…., I asked a couple of people just to try to get smarter. It feels like people judged the Maria situation different because of the reputation of meldonium.”

He also said, “So it’s like, well, that was a performance enhancer, just wasn’t illegal, okay isn’t that every supplement? Like every supplement you take, is taken for the benefit of what, to make your body feel better, to make you feel better, to enhance performance. So her saying I didn’t know when it went from legal to illegal, it’s just a weird…, I feel like it’s a weird thing, you know, it was a performance supplement. Well, I’m like it’s every supplement though.”

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What do you think of the American tennis veteran’s honest take on Simona Halep and Maria Sharapova’s doping saga? Let us know in the comments section.

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