By Jake Fenner and Mike Dickson For Dailymail.Com
00:34 13 Sep 2023, updated 00:59 13 Sep 2023
Serena Williams couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make a comment about the suspension of her former tennis rival, Simona Halep.
The Romanian former world No. 1 was suspended from tennis for four years after testing positive for the banned substance roxadustat at last year’s US Open.
Williams took to Twitter after the suspension was upheld, saying, ‘8 is a better number’.
That’s likely in reference to the 2019 Wimbledon women’s singles final – where Halep denied Williams an eighth title.
In addition to finding roxadustat, a drug to treat anaemia, in her blood, the International Tennis Integrity Agency also discovered irregularities in her blood passport system.
Unless her appeal is successful she will not be able to compete again until 2026, when she will be 35.
Halep, who also won the 2018 French Open, was a respected and popular figure. She has maintained her innocence throughout the episode, which became public in October 2022 when the positive test was revealed from a urine sample at the US Open.
The player last night described herself as ‘shocked and disappointed’ and said she would be taking the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
She described the presence of roxadustat as at ‘an extremely low level’ and added that she adjusted her supplement regime last year on her team’s advice.
Yet in announcing their ruling, the ITIA said: ‘The tribunal accepted Halep’s argument that she took a contaminated supplement, but determined the volume ingested could not have resulted in the concentration of roxadustat found.
‘The ABP (biological passport) charge was also upheld, the tribunal stating they had no reason to doubt the unanimous “strong opinion” of three independent experts that “likely doping” was the explanation.’
Halep had a turbulent 2022. She split with long-time manager Virginia Ruzici and hired Serena Williams’ former coach Patrick Mouratoglou.
After a first round loss at the US Open it emerged she was ending her season and divorcing — after less than a year of marriage — Toni Iuruc, a billionaire businessman.
Williams was not the only one who appeared to comment on Halep’s ban. Canadian Eugenie Bouchard, a tennis player who often speaks out against those who are found guilty of doping, said, ‘I was told not to tweet today.’
Bouchard and Halep have met in Grand Slam events before, but they haven’t had the same significance as a final.
In 2014, Bouchard beat her Romanian counterpart in straight sets of the Wimbledon semifinals to reach her first and only Grand Slam final. She lost that to Petra Kvitova.
They met again in the 2018 Australian Open second round, where Halep got some revenge. Halep would advance to the final of that tournament, where she lost to Caroline Wozniacki.
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