Patrick Mouratoglou ‘admits’ responsibility for Simona Halep’s drug ban in shocking statement

Simona Halep is set to appeal against her four-year ban for anti-doping rules, and now there’s a major twist in the long-running saga.

The 2019 Wimbledon singles champion was suspended by the International Tennis Integrity Body Tribunal in September and provisionally suspended in October 2022 for testing positive for the banned substance Roxadustat.

A court ruled on two charges that the 32-year-old Romanian intentionally breached anti-doping rules, but she has now appealed to CAS to overturn the ruling.

If the ban is upheld, it means she won’t be free to compete again until October 2026, when she will turn 35.

Halep said in a statement at the time of the ban that she had “never knowingly or knowingly used any banned substance.”

CAS did not give a timetable for considering the appeal but noted that if the court’s decision was unfavorable, she could appeal the court’s decision through the Swiss Federal Tribunal.

read more: Simona Halep formally appeals to Court of Arbitration for Sport

Now, Halep’s coach Patrick Mouratoglou has made a shocking revelation after confirming the source of the illegal substance found in the Romanian player’s system.

Mouratoglou, who was the longtime coach of tennis icon Serena Williams, confirmed that his team was involved in the decision-making process to give Halep collagen, which helps Helps make bones denser, slows down the aging process that causes bone fragility, and helps your body produce new bone.

The ITIA report that led to Halep’s ban confirmed that physical therapist Candice Gohier, who joined Halep’s team in April 2022, was the one who recommended the collagen supplement.

Now, Mouratoglou has released a statement on the incident and admitted his team took responsibility for injecting Halep with collagen contaminated with a banned substance.

“I take responsibility for what happened because it was my team, and therefore basically me, that brought her this collagen,” Mouratoglou said in an Instagram post.

“It opens my eyes to the fact that any athlete could be infected tomorrow because obviously it’s happening more and more.

“It’s terrible because you are completely innocent and your reputation is affected because your name is associated with doping, even though you didn’t take any doping.

“Your career is stopped for a very long time. It affects your whole career and it affects your reputation in a very unfair way because you’ve done nothing.

“So, it opens your eyes that this can happen to anyone, and the company you decide to buy a supplement from, you have to be 100 percent sure that’s not going to happen.”

“I have every confidence in Simone’s future as she appeals to CAS because this is an independent tribunal,” he said.

“We have done every possible test to establish that we are talking about contamination. I am very confident that this independent tribunal will accept the fact that she was never doped.

“She is a victim and she must be back on the court as soon as possible and able to play.”