Simona Halep, who won Canada's National Bank Open, provisionally suspended after failing doping test
Two-time Grand Slam champion ineligible to compete in, attend sanctioned events
Former No. 1-ranked player Simona Halep, who won Canada's national tennis championship in August, was provisionally suspended by the International Tennis Integrity Agency after failing a drug test during the U.S. Open later that same month.
The ITIA announced the suspension Friday for Halep, a two-time Grand Slam champion who is currently No. 9 in the WTA rankings.
Halep won the National Bank Open in August for her third title in Canada at the tournament formerly known as the Rogers Cup. She won the French Open in 2018 and Wimbledon in 2019, beating 23-time major champion Serena Williams in the final.
In a social media post, Halep called the news of her positive test "the biggest shock of my life," adding: "Facing such an unfair situation, I feel completely confused and betrayed."
"I will fight until the end to prove that I never knowingly took any prohibited substance," Halep wrote, "and I have faith that sooner or later, the truth will come out."
<a href="https://t.co/bhS2B2ovzS">pic.twitter.com/bhS2B2ovzS</a>
—@Simona_HalepHalep, a 31-year-old from Romania, who recently announced she was taking the rest of this season off after having nose surgery to improve her breathing.
She was seeded No. 7 at the U.S. Open when she lost to Daria Snigur of Ukraine 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 on Aug. 30. It was the first tour-level win of Snigur's career.
WATCH | Halep claims 3rd career National Bank Open title:
Spokesmen for the U.S. Tennis Association and Mouratoglou declined comment.
The ITIA said Halep tested positive in New York for the banned substance Roxadustat, a drug approved for medical use in the European Union to treat the symptoms of anemia caused by chronic kidney failure.
Halep said she was told her test showed "an extremely low quantity."
According to the EU's medicines agency, which approved Roxadustat last year, it stimulates the body to produce more of the natural hormone erythropoietin, or EPO, which has long been a doping product favoured by cyclists and distance runners.
During a provisional suspension, a tennis player is ineligible to compete in, or attend, any sanctioned events.
Under the World Anti-Doing Code, Halep faces a ban of up to four years for a positive test for a substance like Roxadustat. Athletes can earn a reduction in their ban, likely to three years, if they quickly admit an offence and accept their sanction.
Tennis authorities will handle Halep's case and any ruling can be challenged by the World Anti-Doping Agency in an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
"Today begins the hardest match of my life: a fight for the truth," Halep wrote Friday.
With files from CBC Sports
