Simona Halep Suspended for a Positive Doping Test
By James Goss
World No. 1 Simona Halep lost her No. 1 ranking this week as a result of a doping test. With her tennis on hold, the Romanian, who won the title at Wimbledon in June, has been suspended by the WTA for a season, to go with a two-year ban for using a banned substance.
Halep was a winner at Wimbledon two weeks ago, where she defeated Johanna Konta and her compatriot Karolina Pliskova, and is now the highest-ranked woman in the women’s game, according to WTA figures.
Halep lost her No. 1 ranking in June due to a doping violation, and is now suspended for a year by the WTA.
She was not suspended by the WTA during the Wimbledon Championships, and she is entitled to return then as No. 1.
Halep also lost her No. 1 ranking from the WTA after testing positive for a banned substance at the 2015 Australian Open. She had a positive test for an anabolic steroid, which is illegal in the WTA’s code of conduct, which is currently being reviewed.
Halep was notified of the suspension, which was handed down by the WTA, on Tuesday. It is scheduled to last one year beginning in January.
“The WTA informed Simona immediately of the decision that she must leave and that her ranking would be at risk if she did not leave,” the statement read. “The WTA has also taken measures to make her a priority, including scheduling her into events where she was not a top-10 player in her event, and helping her with her financial resources and ongoing expenses.”
Halep has had an excellent season, winning titles in the French Open and Wimbledon, as well as the French Open doubles title with her partner Jelena Ostapenko. She has also been a finalist at the US Open.
She has also been involved in a very public scandal. In June she refused to discuss her drug use with the media, and she was suspended for two months after testing positive for a banned substance at Wimbledon.
This has created a bit of confusion among fans, some of whom are
