{"id":330825,"date":"2023-09-14T01:15:58","date_gmt":"2023-09-14T01:15:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=330825"},"modified":"2023-09-14T02:01:02","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T02:01:02","slug":"tennis-scary-reality-after-stars-positive-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=330825","title":{"rendered":"Tennis' 'scary' reality after star's positive test"},"content":{"rendered":"

Greek world No.9 Maria Sakkari has expressed concern over anti-doping provisions in tennis<\/a> amid former world No.1 Simona Halep\ufeff's<\/a> four-year ban for testing positive to a banned substance.<\/p>\n

Halep "committed intentional anti-doping rule violations " by failing a drug test during the 2022 US Open and for irregularities in her Athlete Biological Passport, according to the International Tennis Integrity Agency.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old Romanian has been provisionally suspended since October 2022, with the four-year ban to run until October 6, 2026. She plans to appeal and has maintained her innocence, blaming tainted supplements.<\/p>\n

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The decision sent a shock through \ufeffthe tennis world, with her former coach Patrick Mouratoglou, telling CNN, if the ban is upheld it "probably means the end of her career" while former rival Serena Williams suggested she deserved another Wimbledon crown<\/a> following her loss to Halep in the 2019 final.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sakkari, speaking after progressing to the last eight of the San Diego Open, told reporters how "scary" it can be for a tennis player on the international circuit, with so many risks associated with providing a sample to testers.<\/p>\n

"One thing I can tell you for sure is the way they're handling every situation with any player, any athlete, it's just scary," she said.<\/p>\n

"We're gonna get to a point where we're not even gonna be taking electrolytes. Thankfully, I haven't been in that position. I never want to be.<\/p>\n

"I've been very careful with everything that has to do with supplements. But I don't know what the process is, how things are done behind closed doors. I don't know who has a say. I have no idea."<\/p>\n

\ufeffHalep is the most prominent tennis player to receive a ban since five-time grand slam champion Maria Sharapova<\/a> tested positive for a newly banned substance at the 2016 Australian Open. Sharapova appealed her two-year suspension to the CAS, which reduced the penalty, ruling she bore "less than significant fault" in the case and could not "be considered to be an intentional doper."<\/p>\n

Sakkari said there are many variables out of the athlete's control that can have dire consequences on their career.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"I would for sure improve the whereabouts app – the anti-doping app. It doesn't work well. It's supposed to remind you every day of your time slot and it doesn't," she said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"They tried to improve it, but it's not working very well. For us, we travel so much compared to other athletes. It's just very stressful.<\/p>\n

"I wake up almost every night to use the bathroom. If that's close to my time slot, I'm just thinking 'Do I go? Do I not go? Do I just wait if they come?' It's just very stressful."<\/p>\n

Halep, who will be 35 when her suspension ends, said she had adjusted her nutritional supplements ahead of the 2022 hardcourt season.<\/p>\n

"I take the rules that govern our sport very seriously and take pride in the fact I have never knowingly or intentionally used any prohibited substance," she said in her statement. "I refused to accept their decision of a four-year ban."<\/p>\n

Halep had considered retiring earlier in 2022 after a series of injuries, but then said she felt rejuvenated after teaming up with Mouratoglou, who used to work with Williams.<\/p>\n

Mouratoglou said the ITIA has been " totally unfair to Simona and it is totally unacceptable." The system, he added, is "destroying careers of innocent players."<\/p>\n

– additional reporting AP\ufeff<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greek world No.9 Maria Sakkari has expressed concern over anti-doping provisions in tennis amid former world No.1 Simona Halep\ufeff's four-year ban for testing positive to […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":330827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330825"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=330825"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":330834,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330825\/revisions\/330834"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/330827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=330825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=330825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=330825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}