5 Months After Blaming Patrick Mouratoglou for Her Doping Debacle, Simona Halep Backtracks on Her Statement

Last year, Romanian tennis star, Simona Halep, received a major jolt as she was banned for four years due to doping violations. Subsequently, the blame game started with Halep coming down heavily on her coaching team for the mess created. It included her ex-coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, against whom Halep was quite vocal about his involvement in the doping fiasco. However, months after accusing the legendary French coach, Halep has made a contradicting statement on this matter.

Earlier this year, Halep won her appeal against the ban and it was reduced to nine months. Weeks later, she returned to the court at the Miami Open. Recently, she was interviewed by Jon Wertheim where she defended her former coach, Mouratoglou. She said, “Definitely was not an intentional mistake or how should I say? That he wanted to make something wrong to me. No. And I heard many voices [say] that I was manipulated by him. That’s not true.”

Further, she went on to add, “So it was nothing that he offered me to take something or to give me something. No, everything was clear about doping, so it’s nothing that he did it on purpose, nothing.”

Even Mouratoglou later sat down and publicly apologized to Halep, “I feel responsible for what happened because it’s my team, so me basically, who brought her (Simona) this collagen.” At the time, the earnest appeal was far from moving the WTA player.

During the doping fiasco, Halep criticized Mouratoglou numerous times for his involvement in it. She even went on to blame him for destroying her tennis career.

When Simona Halep came out harsh against Patrick Mouratoglou

The Romanian tennis star appeared in several interviews during her doping case to put her side of the story. In one of the conversations around December, she put a major accusation on the head of the legendary French coach 5 months ago.

She narrated, “I’m sure it wasn’t done intentionally and I’m grateful he admits the mistake was his and his team’s. Yes, they are the ones who gave me this food supplement. And for this error – their error – I am the only one to pay the high price: twenty-five years of career destroyed!”

However, with the latest revelation, Halep has put to rest her feud with Patrick Mouratoglou and the two appear to have moved over this turn of events. Meanwhile, Halep’s French Open participation chances crashed after the tournament didn’t award her wildcard entry into the main draw or the qualifying rounds. It remains to be seen if she can make a strong comeback later this year.