Tennis player Sorana Cirstea has accused 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams of being “arrogant” after the 23-time Grand Slam champion appeared to treat Simone Simona Halep took a dig at her recent doping ban.
Halep, a former Wimbledon and French Open champion and world No. 1, was charged with two anti-doping violations after testing positive for the banned blood enhancer Roxadustat at the U.S. Open last year. Banned for four years. The court upheld the Romanian’s suspension and accused her of “possible” doping.
Halep has strongly denied knowingly taking banned substances and said she has evidence that small amounts of the anemia medication entered her system from a contaminated licensed supplement.
After news of Halep’s suspension broke, Williams cryptically tweeted: “8 is a better number.” Williams is a seven-time Wimbledon champion but lost in the 2019 final Gave it to Halep.
Halep’s compatriot Sistia said in an interview with “Sports Romania”: “Serena is very good as a player. As a person, she always has such arrogance. “She does not accept that someone beats her or Take away her title. “
Halep said she would “pursue all legal remedies against the supplement companies involved,” and Cirstea came to her defense, suggesting contamination was a viable explanation for the test results.
“I know Simone. I don’t think she has consciously doped. This suspension is for an innocent person,” she said. “I’m afraid of eating anything, I’m afraid of taking aspirin. I may be a little paranoid, but it’s no joke. “It’s every athlete’s nightmare. “
Williams also commented on a tweet from her husband, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, who retweeted a photo of herself wearing a T-shirt that read: “ Keep kids away from drugs.”
He wore the T-shirt during one of Williams’ matches against Maria Sharapova, who was coming off a 15-month doping ban. Williams responded to his caption, “Some fashions are timeless,” saying: “Seriously, there’s no going out of style.”
Williams gave birth to a baby girl last month, almost exactly one year after her last match as a tennis player.
Adira River Ohanian is the second child and second daughter for Williams, 41, and her husband. Their first child, Olympia, was born in 2017.