Simona Halep returned to tennis in 2024 having served a nine month suspension for a doping violation.
There are few stars in tennis who have had a tougher time in recent years, than Romania’s two-time Major champion Halep.
The 33-year-old was given a nine-month suspension in 2023 for a doping violation that saw her fall out of contention on the WTA Tour.
Halep returned to tennis at this year’s Miami Open, where she lost in the first round to Paula Badosa in three sets.
She didn’t win a match until October, when Halep beat Arina Rodionova in the Hong Kong Open, her first victory in over two years.
Now back in action, she hasn’t stayed too far from the headlines and has recently done something that one WTA legend disagrees with.
Rennae Stubbs says Simona Halep should be angry at ‘the system’ not Iga Swiatek after doping controversy
Speaking on the Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, former doubles number one Rennae Stubbs revealed the one thing Halep has done recently that surprised her.
“I am a bit surprised by [Simona] Halep going hard,” she said.
“She is angry, obviously, but don’t be angry at Iga [Swiatek].
“Be angry at the system, a lot of players are angry at the player but be angry at the system, it wasn’t their fault.
“They played within the rules, if they didn’t they wouldn’t be playing right now.”
Halep recently spoke out about Swiatek’s doping ban, claiming that the tennis authorities treated the Pole better than her.
Stubbs’ co-host Andrea Petkovic agreed with Stubbs, and revealed what Halep’s recent comments will do to her reputation amongst tennis fans.
“I think you said it right, she is angry and acting from emotion,” she said.
“She is not making rational decisions and you can feel the tide turning on her.
“The one thing Simona had was sympathy and it’s turning this year, just because… if I had been in her situation honestly I don’t know if I could let it go either.”
Stubbs followed up by giving some advice to the former Wimbledon champion, telling her what she should be doing instead.
“I wouldn’t have been able to either,” she admitted.
“But I wouldn’t be throwing it on the player. I would be throwing it on the system and the IATA, WADA, I would be throwing it on everyone but the player.”
What did Simona Halep say about Iga Swiatek’s doping ban?
Having dealt with her own fair share of ‘doping controversy’ over the past few years, Halep was unsurprisingly quick to speak out with the recent news of Swiatek’s one-month suspension.
She spoke to The Telegraph recently, to give her thoughts on the fairness of Swiatek’s suspension.
“What I believe is not fair, is that they announced my case straight away, and I got all the heat from the press, and for these two players they kept it secret, and they just said about the case when everything was done, so it’s very weird,” she said.
“The woman player, I don’t want to give name, you know about who I’m talking about, she had the three-week suspension, then she played two events, and then she gets again suspension.
“What is this? I mean, I don’t understand, so I feel it is not fair.”
Halep is most likely referring to Swiatek and Jannik Sinner, as the ‘two players’, who had their doping cases kept ‘secret’.
Sinner is awaiting the verdict of an appeal for his doping case, as the Italian world number one could yet be suspended for a lengthy period of time.
The Romanian star returned to tennis in 2024, having served her nine month suspension for a doping violation of her own.
Thanks to her doping ban, Halep fell from a top-ten ranking in 2023 to outside the world’s top 800, while Swiatek only dropped from world number one to world number two with her suspension.
Halep is set to return to tennis for the 2025 Australian Open qualifying tournament which begins on January 6.
Swiatek will be back in action for the main draw at Melbourne which gets underway on January 12.
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