Simona Halep provisionally suspended after testing positive for banned substance
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AUGUSTA, Maine — When Simona Halep’s career took an unexpected turn, it seemed like she was just going through the motions at the beginning of the season.
But the Halep family was prepared to take it one day at a time and waited patiently for the Romanian star to return to the rankings. On Friday, she finally did. After she tested positive for banned substance meldonium on Friday, she will be provisionally suspended for five weeks from the Australian Open.
“I did not feel like coming back. I was struggling to get back into the competitive game. I didn’t understand how I had to change my game and also the way I take care of myself,” Halep said. “I have tried to take a lot of measures but I could not make an improvement. I don’t know what happened, but I have to change my training. I am going to take some medication because I have to make some changes.”
A week ago, her coach, Martina Navratilova, said Halep, 33, had just started to “unburden her mind, physically, and emotionally, to come back to the game.”
But on Friday, the Romanian star said she didn’t plan on giving up tennis.
“My priority remains tennis. I will not give up on tennis. I know that this experience is going to help me a lot to become a better player,” she said. “I want to be back at the finals in Australia, so I am going to give it 100 percent.”
The U.S. Open in Queens, New York, will begin Sept. 1. It will be Halep’s first appearance in New York in over five years (2008, lost to Ana Ivanovic in the quarterfinals).
Since being knocked out in the third-round at the Australian Open in January, Halep has been struggling to find a rhythm in her game.
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