Simona Halep tears apart ITIA for ‘destroying’ her career as Iga Swiatek faces just 1-month suspension for failing drug test
Simona Halep questioned why the ITIA gave different verdicts on similar cases after it was revealed that Iga Swiatek had failed a doping test.
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Simona Halep, Iga Swiatek (Images via X)
Why did the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) suspend Iga Swiatek for just one month but had imposed a four-year ban on Simona Halep even when she also got contaminated unknowingly? Halep knows not the answer but she it seems will continue to accuse ITIA of ‘destroying’ her career.
Halep took to Instagram many hours after the ITIA on Thursday (November 28) announced that Swiatek had failed a drug test in August as trimetazidine (TMZ) a banned drug that’s used to treat heart conditions, was found in her sample at low levels before the Cincinnati Masters. The Romanian couldn’t fathom why the ITIA gave different verdicts on two similar cases.
I stand and ask myself, why is there such a big difference in treatment and judgment? I can’t find and I don’t think there can be a logical answer. It can only be bad will from ITIA, the organization that has done absolutely everything to destroy me despite the evidence.
Simona Halep wrote on Instagram
Halep tested positive for roxadustat in October 2022 and about a year later, the ITIA announced that Halep would get a four-year ban. But Halep earlier in 2024 appealed before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the ban was reduced to nine months which she had already served, and so she returned to tennis at the Miami Open.
How is it possible that in identical cases happening around the same time ITIA to have completely different approaches to my detriment. How could I accept that the WTA and the players council did not want to return me the ranking that I deserved. I lost two years of my career, I lost many nights when I couldn’t sleep, thoughts, anxiety, questions without answers…but I won justice.
Simona Halep added
Check out her post here:
How is Iga Swiatek’s case similar and different from Jannik Sinner’s case?
Before Iga Swiatek, Jannik Sinner was the first high-profile player to fail a drug test. He was tested positive for clostebol twice this year in March. He received suspension twice and on both occasions he appealed against them.
ITIA lifted the provisional suspension and agreed to the Italian that he was contaminated because of a spray his then-physio Giacomo Naldi had been using to heal a cut on his finger. Both Sinner and Swiatek returned to competition before the case was resolved.
While Sinner faced no suspension other than the mandatory suspensions, Swiatek has been banned for one month, which also includes her three-week mandatory suspension. She just has about a week to serve before she will be able to compete again.
The suspension on Swiatek will lift on December 4 and it won’t affect her game much since the WTA season for 2024 has already ended and will restart on December 27.
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Gouri Das
(4693 Articles Published)