“No chance she cheated,” Darren Cahill defends Simona Halep as latest development make her look innocent

Darren Cahill gave his opinion about Simona Halep's doping saga.


“No chance she cheated,” Darren Cahill defends Simona Halep as latest development make her look innocent

Darren Cahill, Simona Halep

The Australian tennis coach Darren Cahill gave his opinion about the doping saga of the Romanian former World No.1 Simona Halep. For the uninitiated, The Romanian has been suspended by the ITIA (The International Tennis Integrity Agency) for failing the drug test during the US Open 2022. Cahill said in a recent interview that he doesn’t think that a champion like Halep would cheat.

As Cahill said, “I understood they found the source of the contamination, not sure if it was in food or supplements, but they found out where it came from. There’s no chance she cheated. She’s a great person, no chance that she did the wrong thing. I wish her good luck.”

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Halep played her last professional match in the first round of the US Open 2022 where she lost to Ukrainian qualifier Daria Snigur. It was the earliest exit for the two-time Grand Slam champion in a Grand Slam since the US Open in 2018. she was eventually caught in the drug test for using a prohibited substance, Roxadustat in the same tournament. ITIA stated then: “ineligible to compete in or attend any sanctioned tennis events organized by the governing bodies of the sport“.

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Simona Halep is a two-time Grand Slam champion

Simona Halep

The former World No.1 was shocked when she was caught in the drug test. She responded to it with a social media post back in October 2022, “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. Throughout my whole career, the idea of cheating never even crossed my mind once, as it is totally against all the values I have been educated with. Facing such an unfair situation, I feel completely confused and betrayed.”

2-time grand slam champion Simona Halep was ranked world No.1 for a total of 64 weeks between 2017 and 2019. Her Major triumphs were at the French Open 2018 and Wimbledon 2019 when she defeated American world No.50, Sloane Stephens, in the final, 3–6, 6–4, 6–1, and 23-time grand slam champion Serena Williams 6-2,6-2 respectively.

She has also reached the Australian Open final in 2018 when she lost to Danish Former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki 7-6(2), 3-6,6-4. Her best performance in the US Open was a semi-final appearance in 2015. Her Wimbledon triumph in 2019 over Serena Williams was one of the finest-ever performances by a women’s singles champion when she hit just 3 unforced errors throughout the match to stop Serena from equalling the record of most grand slams ever won by a tennis player (24 by Margeret Court).

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