Former Halep coach Darren Cahill leaps to star's defence after failed drug sample

| by Tom Grant

Simona Halep's former coach Darren Cahill has issued a strong message of support to his former player following her failed drug test.

On Friday, it was revealed the two-time Grand Slam champion had tested positive for banned substance Roxadustat - a blood booster.

Halep was suspended from all tennis activity by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) after being informed of the failed test - taken at the US Open in August - on October 7.

And former coach Cahill, who guided Halep to her first grand slam title at Roland Garros in 2018, took to Instagram to issue a lengthy statement defending the Romanian.

He wrote: "Even though I’m no longer working with Simona, I’d like to speak clearly to the person I know and the athlete that I worked with for 6 years.

"Firstly, and most importantly, there is NO chance Simona knowingly or purposely took any substance on the banned list. None. Zero.

"She is an athlete that stressed about anything prescribed to her by a medical professional (which was rarely), or about any supplement that she used or considered. Simona wore out the words “please double check this, triple check this to make sure it’s legal, safe and permitted. If you are not sure, "I’m not taking it.”

'We both believe in the ITIA testing program and would often discuss the number of times she was tested, both at tournaments and randomly. She did it without complaint, with the reassurance of knowing other athletes were being tested just as frequently. Competing against clean athletes was important to her. It’s important to everyone and while the system is not perfect, it works."

The ITIA statement confirmed that Halep had traces of Roxadustat in both the A and B samples as a result of the test.

But, Cahill insists she has always approached her professional career in 'the right way.'

He continued: "Simona’s integrity is faultless, she respects her peers, she loves the game and she always has her feet firmly planted on the ground as a humble, approachable champion,' Cahill continued in the statement.

"I have sat proudly in awe of the person that she has matured into, watching the compassion she has shown others. I’m not talking about the stuff that the tennis world gets to see, I’m speaking about the kindness and care that very few are fortunate to experience. The kind of actions that are done for love and not for publicity.

"Honesty has always been her greatest strength and her biggest weakness. We would often laugh about the fact that she can’t act and can’t tell a little white lie. Ask her a question in a press conference and she will blurt out an honest answer. She wears her mood on her shoulder for the world to see, for good and for bad. That is Simo. What you see is what you get. She built an amazing career and legacy by doing things the hard way. The right way.

"Due process will now follow to reveal answers to many questions. As Simona said, the hardest match of her life starts now.

"I believe in her. I always have and can honestly say never more than right now on this particular issue."

The Halep news is the biggest drug scandal to hit the sport since Maria Sharapova failed a drug test for meldonium after losing to Serena Williams in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.

She was subsequently banned from the sport for two years. She served 15-months of that after appeal.

Halep has denied knowingly taken Roxadustat and plans to fight the charges.

Read Halep's reaction to being provisionally suspended for banned substance
Read Halep's reaction to being provisionally suspended for banned substance
Simona Halep's billionaire ex-husband reacts to her provisional suspension
Simona Halep's billionaire ex-husband reacts to her provisional suspension

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