There is sometimes a small world between words and their meaning. “Eight is a nicer number,” Serena Williams wrote late Tuesday evening on the platform X, formerly called Twitter. What seems harmless at first glance is, at second glance, a rather sharp tip from the most successful tennis player in history towards a former opponent.
The Romanian Simona Halep, once number one in the world rankings and winner of two Grand Slam titles, had recently been banned for four years by an independent court for violations of the tennis anti-doping program. And Williams, who lost to Halep in the 2019 Wimbledon final and ended her career last year, appeared to suggest she now expects to get her eighth win at the world’s most famous tennis tournament at the green table.
Williams’ supposedly malicious comment was followed by a storm of indignation on social networks. Halep’s case is not about an offense in 2019 at all. In October 2022, the 31-year-old tested positive for roxadustat at the US Open. The active ingredient is on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) banned list in the same category as erythropoietin (Epo), the best-known blood doping agent. Halep was provisionally suspended. In May, she was charged with another anti-doping program violation, citing irregularities in her athlete biological passport. She has now been found guilty in both cases.
Halep protests her innocence, and her former coaches Darren Cahill and Patrick Mouratoglou, who previously coached Serena Williams for a long time, as well as other players, fans and the players’ union PTPA come to her aid. In a lengthy statement on Tuesday, Halep said she attributed the positive test to a contaminated dietary supplement she took in August 2022. She complained about “multiple unfounded delays” in the proceedings and claims that the court followed her argument, but two experts changed their minds after they were informed about Halep’s identity.
Published/Updated: Thomas Klemm, New York Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 4 Published/Updated: Recommendations: 1
Halep’s punishment seems drastic. Especially because doping offenses in tennis have not always been prosecuted with the same rigor as in other sports. It has only been since January 1, 2022 that the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has been responsible, in addition to the prosecution of betting fraud cases, for the anti-doping program of the world association ITF and the professional associations WTA and ATP, which they had done themselves until then. The Haleps case is by far the most high-profile that has occurred since then. They announced that they would appeal to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). “Last year was the hardest match of my life,” she wrote, “and unfortunately my fight continues.”
