Romanian tennis player Simona Halep said today that there is a big difference in the way doping cases are handled, after Poland's Iga Šviontek was suspended for a month because she tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine.
The International Tennis Integrity Unit (ITIA) said on Thursday that Svyontek had accepted a one-month suspension after testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine in a sample taken in August 2024.
Due to the included temporary ban, the second tennis player in the world will be able to return to the court on December 4. She has been suspended since September 12 and has been unable to participate in the Asian tour, including the WTA tournaments in Beijing and Wuhan.
Halep, who was suspended for 18 months for breaking rules in two separate doping cases, criticized the ITIA for taking "completely different approaches".
"I wonder why there is such a big difference in treatment and judgement? I can't find it and I don't think there is a logical answer. It can only be the ill will of ITIA, an organization that has done absolutely everything to destroy me despite the evidence," Halep said on To Instagram, the BBC reported.
Halep was temporarily suspended in October 2022 after testing positive for the banned substance roxadustat, an anti-anemia drug that stimulates the production of red blood cells.
She was then suspended for four years, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport reduced that sentence to nine months in March.
Halep has always maintained that she is innocent and that she took a contaminated supplement.
"I lost two years of my career, I lost sleepless nights, thoughts, anxiety, unanswered questions. How is it possible that in identical cases happening around the same time, ITIA has completely different approaches to my detriment," stated the former number one tennis player of the world.
Svyontek tested positive for the heart drug in an out-of-competition test in August, when she was the world number one.
The ITIA accepted the five-time Grand Slam champion's claim that she had taken a contaminated over-the-counter melatonin drug manufactured and sold in Poland, which she used for air travel and sleep problems. An ITIA spokesperson told the BBC that there were "very important differences" between the Halep and Svyontek cases.
"No two cases are the same, there are often different circumstances and direct comparisons are not always helpful. The contaminated product in the case of Ms. Švjontek was a regular medicine, not a supplement," the spokesperson said.
The suspension of Šviontek comes after the suspension of the number one tennis player in the world, Italian Janiko Siner, due to clostebol in March.
Although the ITIA accepted that Siner was neither guilty nor negligent, the World Anti-Doping Agency sought a suspension.
"We deal with each case on the basis of facts and evidence, not on the basis of the player's name, ranking or nationality. When an illegal substance is found in a player's body, we investigate thoroughly. We appeal to players to be extremely careful when taking supplements and we are always happy to to answer their questions," said the ITIA spokesperson.
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