The 2024 tennis season was a rollercoaster. From Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner‘s doping scandal to Joao Fonseca’s rise, the season was nothing short of dramatic. However, what truly struck a chord with the tennis fraternity was Simona Halep‘s situation. Returning to the court after an eight-month suspension, the Romanian player found herself at the center of a conflict, with many claiming she was a victim of partiality. Among her supporters was former pro-Andrea Petkovic, who not only shed light on the missteps in Halep’s case but also offered insights into what the Romanian should do about it.

The former pro reflected on the consequences Simona Halep had to face after she tested positive in her doping trial. The Romanian WTA star tested positive for Roxadustat last September during the US Open. After that, she was suspended for four years from the professional tour. However, Halep maintained her claim of being innocent from the beginning and appealed to CAS which ruled in her favor and reduced her sentence to nine months.

Despite that, Halep’s punishment was harsher than that of Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek who also tested positive for the banned substances Clostebol and contaminated melatonin respectively this year. Sinner received a suspension of eight days whereas Iga Swiatek had to stay off the court for a month. However, none of them suffered like Simona Halep and Andrea Petkovic offered explanations about what went wrong in Halep’s case.

Petkovic tried to raise the point that Halep was completely unaware of how the contamination took place. If the Romanian player could identify the source straight away as Sinner or Swiatek did, he must have had a better way to claim her innocence and probably get a lesser suspension than eight months. “Well, I thought like if Simona had known, what if Simona had known right away where the contamination was, she would have done exactly the same thing that Jannik has, and she would have tried to get away with the least, the least impact possible on her career. And I think that’s where she’s losing people slightly,” said Petkovic.

The German had some more details to offer as well. She added, “It is because until now. It was against the system. It was, why am I not being heard? Why is the cast taking eight months to get back to me? Why? You know, yeah, that’s the system, and that’s exactly and that’s and that she’s right to talk about this. Because why isn’t she being heard when her career is on the line? She’s not 20 anymore. She doesn’t have 15 years.”

The International Tennis Integrity Agency’s CEO however, offered a contrasting opinion on the matter. Reflecting on the uniqueness of each case, this Chief Executive dropped her perspectives on what went wrong for Simona Halep that she wasn’t let off without a long suspension, like Sinner and Swiatek.

The ITIA CEO says “all cases are different” while explaining the Simona Halep case

Karen Moorhouse, the ITIA’s CEO offered her stance after receiving criticism about Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek’s preferential treatment. She denied the preferential treatment and rather focused on how Halep’s case was different from Sinner’s and Swiatek’s. “It’s the same rules and the same processes for every player. All cases are different and each case turns on individual facts. Cases can also be quite complex, so it isn’t right to look at two headlines and draw comparisons between two cases as the detail is always the key part,” she said.

Moorehouse highlighted that Swiatek’s case was justified because her contamination was from a regulated medication and it was reasonable for Swaitek to trust the brand. This led to the authority deeming her case as “minimal fault.”

Explaining that Halep’s fault was charged higher since her contamination happened from a collagen supplement, not a medicine, Moorehouse said, “In relation to Swiatek, the contaminated product was a medication. So it was not unreasonable for a player to assume that a regulated medication would contain what it says on the ingredients. Therefore, the level of fault she could accept was at the lowest level as there was very little more she could have done reasonably to mitigate the risk of that product being contaminated.”

However, now Halep’s suspension is evoked and her followers are waiting to see her in action in the coming Australian Open. Do you think she will make a great comeback in Melbourne?