A week has passed since the Iga Swiatek doping news came to light and Simona Halep says her old demons returned and she “lost my sleep again” because she has a hard time accepting what she believes is a completely different in the handlings of her and the cases of the Pole and Jannik Sinner.
Last Thursday, the ITIA announced that the five-time Grand Slam champion tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ) and was given a provisional suspension on September 12th. However, the Pole acted quickly – quickly discovered that non-prescription melatonin pills were the source of contamination – successfully appealed – and her provisional ban ended after just 22 days. And when Swiatek was handed a one-month ban, she only had eight more days to serve of suspension.
In August, it was revealed that Sinner failed two doping tests in March but he was cleared of any wrongdoing and avoided getting banned.
Meanwhile, Halep was suspended for 18 months after testing positive for Roxadustat in 2022 October. Just as in the Swiatek and Sinner cases, it was ultimately accepted that the Romanian was a victim of contamination and that she didn’t intentionally or knowingly take a banned substance. But it took the former world No. 1 much longer to clear her name.
“I stand and ask myself, why is…
