Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for a banned substance, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) said on Friday.
“Simona Halep, a 31-year-old Romanian tennis player, has been provisionally suspended under Article 7.12.1 of the 2022 Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP),” the body said in a statement.
The world No 9 tested positive for the anti-anaemia drug Roxadustat in New York at the US Open and has been provisionally suspended.
Halep, who won the French Open in 2018 and Wimbledon the following year, is the highest-profile tennis player to fail a drugs test since Maria Sharapova six years ago.
The Romanian suffered a shock loss to Daria Snigur in the first round of the US Open, which brought her season to an end last month following nasal surgery.
In a statement on her social media channels, Halep wrote: “Today begins the hardest match of my life: a fight for the truth.
“I have been notified that I have tested positive for a substance called Roxadustat in an extremely low quantity, which came as the biggest shock of my life.”
Halep added she feels “completely confused and betrayed” and “will fight until the end to prove that I never knowingly took any prohibited substance”.
“It’s not about the titles or the money. It’s about honor and the love story I have developed with the game of tennis over the last 25 years,” she continued.
Halep has said she will “fight for the truth” after her positive drugs test
Halep turned professional in 2006, making her WTA main draw debut in 2010 at the Andalucia Tennis Experience.
She reached her first Grand Slam final in 2014, when she lost at the French Open to Sharapova.
After also losing finals at Roland Garros (2017) and Australian Open (2018), Halep finally won her first major when she beat Sloane Stephens in the 2018 French Open and she went on to defeat Serena Williams to claim a maiden Wimbledon title in 2019.
