Simona Halep's former coach, Darren Cahill, has called on false narratives surrounding her suspension to stop as he calls upon tennis bodies to do better in the future.
The Romanian's case has been the most high-profile doping scandal in tennis recently. Halep was initially provisionally suspended after her doping test showed forbidden substances in her sample provided at the 2022 US Open.
The ban immediately prohibited her from competing, starting a legal battle that Halep ultimately won. The final verdict from the governing bodies was a four-year ban; however, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reduced that to only nine months after she launched an appeal.
By the time the CAS ruling came down, Halep had spent more than a year away from tennis. She was allowed to return to tennis immediately and competed at the Miami Open. The drama doesn't end there, as some still feel like Halep is a cheater who doped, which she vehemently denied.
The contamination was accidental, and her former coach, Darren Cahill, called upon the false narratives to stop. He's been backing Halep since the initial suspension, swearing that she would never dope intentionally. As someone who worked with her for years, Cahill knew her better than most.
The Australian would also like the tennis governing bodies to do better in the future because the whole process sometimes looked more like a witch hunt than a process that hoped to uncover the truth.
"It’s time for the false accusations and false narratives to stop. The tennis bodies need to do better. That is the 4 majors, @atptour & @WTA who fund this organization as they waste $ millions of tennis player money."
The bottom line is that Halep is back in tennis, although the episode will remain a stain on her career, one which some will never forget.
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