“No support for doped players!” Simona Halep once slammed Maria Sharapova when she returned to the tour after the doping ban
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Simona Halep and Maria Sharapova
With the news of Simona Halep getting caught now for doping during this year’s US Open, Let’s take a look back at what Halep had to say about the Russian Career Slam Winner Maria Sharapova when the former was awarded a wild card entry to Porsche Grand Prix coming after the doping ban in 2017.
“For the kids, for the young players, it is not OK to help with a wild card the player that was banned for doping,” said the fifth-ranked Halep, adding that “it is not about Maria Sharapova here, but it is about all the players that are found doped. I cannot support what the tournament director did, but also I cannot judge,” said Halep, during the tournament in an interview given to French sports daily L’Equipe.
Maria Sharapova announced that she tested positive for using Meldonium on March 07, 2016, and was served a ban for 15 months. Sharapova’s final match of her career was on 26 February 2020 and she was not able to gain much momentum after the doping ban.
Tennis Twitter is already on different sides regarding its reactions to Halep’s doping saga. Some of the Sharapova fans were seen understanding the current situation of the Halep Fans but we are not sure whether they remember what the Romanian had to say about their idol during the latter’s doping saga back in 2017.
Related: “She has always been a cheater” Tennis World in trauma as Simona Halep caught red-handed for doping
Maria Sharapova vs Simona Halep – How the Romanian turned the table around?
2-time grand slam champion 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.
Former World No.1 Sharapova had also reached the finals of women’s singles in the 2012 Olympics where she lost to the American 23-time Grand Slam Champion Serena Williams in straight sets. If she was able to win that match, she would have gotten a special place in tennis history by becoming a golden slam winner.
Sharapova vs Halep match-up is one of the perfect examples to show the power of consistent improvement. Similar to how Rafael Nadal turned the table against the Swiss Legend Roger Federer in the Wimbledon finals.
In the 2006 final, Nadal lost in 4 sets, in 2007, he was able to extend it to 5 sets, and finally, in 2008, he won the title in 5 sets. Halep also did a similar pattern against Sharapova where the Russian won their first 5 matches and Halep turned it around in their last 2 encounters.
Their last match against each other was in the 2018 Rome Semi-final when the Romanian won it in 3 tight sets. Sharapova was not able to be the same person as before after coming back to the tour from the doping ban, tennis fans are waiting for how Halep would react to a similar scenario now.
Also read: Iga Swiatek breaks Maria Sharapova’s 15-year-old ‘noble’ record with her US Open title triumph
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Vipul Payattuparambil
(552 Articles Published)