Kim being diplomatic, as usual, but defending Halep whilst suggesting that Sharapova (and Russian athletes, in general, clearly a biased opinion) intended to dope. I feel like Andy was more objective here, pointing out that intent is ambiguous, and that in both Sharapova's and Halep's cases, the purpose of taking a legal supplement was to make their body feel better and thus enhance performance (the only difference being the perception of the supplements in question). Everything he said made sense, although I don't think the stringent doping regulation in tennis is to be celebrated, if it leads to such ludicrous cases as testing positive for the trace amounts of hormones in meat, or for medicine for Athlete's foot. Personally, I don't think doping would make a material difference to the top 50 tennis players in the WTA or ATP. One thing that neither Andy nor Kim touched upon, is Mouratoglou's involvement, and whether other players he's coached over the years (Serena, Tsitsipas, Rune etc.) may have been given similarly 'contaminated' supplements. That would open a whole new can of worms, I suppose.
Surprising how naive Clijsters and Roddick are here. Halep claims it was accidental. It's perfectly possible it was entirely intentional. Or not. It's impossible to say. All we know for sure is that she tested positive to an banned substance. It's a very difficult situation. If it was an accident, then obviously it's horrible for Halep and one should bear that in mind when discussing Halep. But equally she may have been intentionally doping and should also be remembered. As for the "strict" anti-doping regime Andy talks about, I suspect the dopers are way ahead of the testing regime and that there's a fair bit of doping going undetected - as indeed his baseball example implies. My general view is that the doping regime is poorly managed. The rules need to be clearer and the penalties less negotiable. The way penalties are handed out and routinely reduced undermines credibility. If an offence is deemed sufficient to remove a player from the tour, then that is very serious, the time off tour ought to be lengthy and on return tournaments should not be allowed to give wild cards for a period. If you've be banned for cheating, you ought to have to earn your way back up the rankings. That decision should be taken out of the hands of tournaments.
And then you have Sinner who got a 6 month reprieve and didn’t have to earn anything back, let alone entrance to tournaments lol. Don’t care how minute or who supposedly accidentally exposed him. He’s an athlete just like Halep yet he got 6 months to cover it up then spin it and eventually blame then fire a fitness coach who probably had nothing to do with it.
I think people are forgetting she is in the middle of a messy divorce with a billionaire. They were only married for 11 months. People do nasty things in divorce and having an ex-spouse with the means to taint a supplement isn't inconceivable. I think the thing that got her unbanned was the fact that two scientific experts at the ITF changed their conclusion from accidental to intentional doping after finding out it was her. Like Andy and Kim have mentioned, she is at the tail end of a Hall of Fame career and was always strongly for fair play . Why jeopardize it? She has enough fame and money. Again, she was married to a billionaire and a Romanian icon.
To me Halep has come across far worse than Sharapova did. Ultimately a large amount of a blood doping agent, which given her style of play would have clear beneficial effects, was found in her system, more than could be explained away by a simple contamination. And to compound things, she hasn’t accepted any accountability or shown any humility at all, coming across worse and even more obnoxious with every interview. Sharapova on the other, while of cause she / her team was guilty of negligence, was then far more gracious and honest about her offence than Halep has been. Sharapova kept her distance from her peers and was seen as ‘ice cold’, while Halep has been popular in the locker room and has been fan friendly in the past, explaining why more people within the tennis world have rushed to her defence. And remember Halep criticised the fact that Sharapova received wildcards after returning from her ban in 2017.
Totally agree. Andy even pointed out in Sharapova's case, the substance was newly added to the banned list when she tested positive, that wasn't Halep's case. And Sharapova didn't bring more publicity to it but just admitted fault regardless.. while Halep just continues to blame others. Also agree that there should be more punishment for the coach/staff.. of course with Moratoglou's connection they won't get anything.
glad to see Halep back. She is a great player. A grand slam champion.
Simona, you're a fighter, you'll come back stronger, I'm sure!!❤💪
I am very happy because Simona Halep is playing again
There has to be a difference between accidental ingestion v intentional doping.
Kim being diplomatic, as usual, but defending Halep whilst suggesting that Sharapova (and Russian athletes, in general, clearly a biased opinion) intended to dope. I feel like Andy was more objective here, pointing out that intent is ambiguous, and that in both Sharapova's and Halep's cases, the purpose of taking a legal supplement was to make their body feel better and thus enhance performance (the only difference being the perception of the supplements in question). Everything he said made sense, although I don't think the stringent doping regulation in tennis is to be celebrated, if it leads to such ludicrous cases as testing positive for the trace amounts of hormones in meat, or for medicine for Athlete's foot. Personally, I don't think doping would make a material difference to the top 50 tennis players in the WTA or ATP.
One thing that neither Andy nor Kim touched upon, is Mouratoglou's involvement, and whether other players he's coached over the years (Serena, Tsitsipas, Rune etc.) may have been given similarly 'contaminated' supplements. That would open a whole new can of worms, I suppose.
Surprising how naive Clijsters and Roddick are here. Halep claims it was accidental. It's perfectly possible it was entirely intentional. Or not. It's impossible to say. All we know for sure is that she tested positive to an banned substance. It's a very difficult situation. If it was an accident, then obviously it's horrible for Halep and one should bear that in mind when discussing Halep. But equally she may have been intentionally doping and should also be remembered. As for the "strict" anti-doping regime Andy talks about, I suspect the dopers are way ahead of the testing regime and that there's a fair bit of doping going undetected - as indeed his baseball example implies. My general view is that the doping regime is poorly managed. The rules need to be clearer and the penalties less negotiable. The way penalties are handed out and routinely reduced undermines credibility. If an offence is deemed sufficient to remove a player from the tour, then that is very serious, the time off tour ought to be lengthy and on return tournaments should not be allowed to give wild cards for a period. If you've be banned for cheating, you ought to have to earn your way back up the rankings. That decision should be taken out of the hands of tournaments.
And then you have Sinner who got a 6 month reprieve and didn’t have to earn anything back, let alone entrance to tournaments lol. Don’t care how minute or who supposedly accidentally exposed him. He’s an athlete just like Halep yet he got 6 months to cover it up then spin it and eventually blame then fire a fitness coach who probably had nothing to do with it.
I think people are forgetting she is in the middle of a messy divorce with a billionaire. They were only married for 11 months. People do nasty things in divorce and having an ex-spouse with the means to taint a supplement isn't inconceivable. I think the thing that got her unbanned was the fact that two scientific experts at the ITF changed their conclusion from accidental to intentional doping after finding out it was her. Like Andy and Kim have mentioned, she is at the tail end of a Hall of Fame career and was always strongly for fair play . Why jeopardize it? She has enough fame and money. Again, she was married to a billionaire and a Romanian icon.
Kim is officially the "work wife"
Humanity is going down. Everything is already too complicated and it will just get worse. We are not likely to survive the weight of all.
To me Halep has come across far worse than Sharapova did.
Ultimately a large amount of a blood doping agent, which given her style of play would have clear beneficial effects, was found in her system, more than could be explained away by a simple contamination. And to compound things, she hasn’t accepted any accountability or shown any humility at all, coming across worse and even more obnoxious with every interview.
Sharapova on the other, while of cause she / her team was guilty of negligence, was then far more gracious and honest about her offence than Halep has been.
Sharapova kept her distance from her peers and was seen as ‘ice cold’, while Halep has been popular in the locker room and has been fan friendly in the past, explaining why more people within the tennis world have rushed to her defence. And remember Halep criticised the fact that Sharapova received wildcards after returning from her ban in 2017.
Totally agree. Andy even pointed out in Sharapova's case, the substance was newly added to the banned list when she tested positive, that wasn't Halep's case. And Sharapova didn't bring more publicity to it but just admitted fault regardless.. while Halep just continues to blame others.
Also agree that there should be more punishment for the coach/staff.. of course with Moratoglou's connection they won't get anything.
Simo!💜
A
Andy looks as if he has a black eye :)