Simona Halep Suspended for a Positive Doping Test

Simona Halep, a two-time Grand Slam singles champion and one of the biggest stars in women’s tennis, received a provisional suspension on Friday after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug during the U.S. Open this summer.

Halep, a 31-year-old Romanian, is currently ranked ninth in the world. A representative declined an interview request, but after Halep learned of the suspension on Friday, she wrote on Twitter that news of the drug violation was “the biggest shock of my life.”

In a statement, the International Tennis Integrity Agency, which oversees drug testing for the sport, said Halep had tested positive for roxadustat, a drug commonly used for people suffering from anemia, a condition resulting from a low level of red blood cells.

The organization said that after the drug was found in her initial sample, Halep requested a test on a second sample, which confirmed the presence of the drug in her system.

“While provisionally suspended, the player is ineligible to compete in or attend any sanctioned tennis events organized by the governing bodies of the sport,” the organization said.

Roxadustat is on the list of banned substances because it artificially stimulates hemoglobin and red blood cell production, which is a technique for players to gain more endurance. The drug does this by getting the body to produce more of the hormone erythropoietin, commonly referred to as “EPO,” which plays an important role in red blood cell production.

Red blood cells carry oxygen throughout the body. More red blood cells can result in increased endurance, which made EPO a particularly common performance-enhancing substance in professional cycling for years.

Halep had never previously received a drug suspension. In her post on Twitter, she stated that “the idea of cheating never crossed my mind once” and that it went against her values. “I will fight to the end to prove that I never knowingly took a prohibited substance,” Halep wrote.

Halep’s 2022 season was an up-and-down campaign. She was close to quitting in February, she said, because she had lost her belief that she could compete with the best players in the world. But as she began working with Patrick Mouratoglou, who previously trained Serena Williams, Halep regained her confidence.

She entered the French Open in good form but lost her first-round match after suffering what she later described as a panic attack during a three-set battle with Zheng Qinwen of China. At Wimbledon, Halep made it to the semifinals before losing to the eventual champion, Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, but at the U.S. Open the following month she lost in the first round once more, this time to Daria Snigur of Ukraine.

In early September, Halep announced that she had nasal surgery to remove what had been a significant blockage in her nose. The condition had made it difficult to breathe for years, she said on social media, but she had never pursued the surgery because it required three months away from playing tennis.

At that time, she announced that her 2022 season was over and that she was looking forward to rejoining tennis in 2023. Those plans will now await the outcome of any appeals she makes regarding the drug violation. As a first time-offender, Halep very likely faces a suspension of up to two years, which would begin roughly at the time of her most recent competition.

Athletes in Halep’s position, as Maria Sharapova was when she was found to have taken an illegal heart medication, often claim that a physician prescribed the drug for a legitimate medical reason but the athlete did not realize that it was on the banned substances list. But antidoping regulations hold athletes responsible for anything that is found in their bodies.