Greek tennis star Maria Sakkari called tennis authorities' handling of doping tests as 'scary' in light of Simona Halep's staggering four-year suspension.
Halep was provisionally suspended late last year when she failed a drug test. She was hit with a second and separate doping charge earlier this year. But despite pleading her innocence in a London court in June, Halep was deemed to have breached anti-doping regulations after an independent tribunal reached its verdict this week and will serve a four-year suspension from the WTA Tour.
The news has completely rocked the tennis world, given the Romanian's eminent persona. While judgment was a welcome relief after months of waiting, it was definitely not the news Halep and her closest people wanted to hear.
There has been divisive opinion on this matter, with a section of fans siding with Halep, and others were quick to bring up the blame game, calling out Halep for being irresponsible regarding the kind of supplements she was taking, or possibly pointing the finger at her team for their subpar supervision.
Maria Sakkari, who is playing at the San Diego Open this week, gave her opinion on the matter in the aftermath of her first-round win. Sakkari spoke in detail of the fear imparted on tennis players in the wake of Halep's ban, that they might even stop taking electrolytes.
Sakkari also summed up her thoughts on the complexity of the whereabouts app, which is meant to schedule appointments and inform tennis players of the agreed timeslots for their out-of-competition doping tests. The Greek notes that the authorities have tried to improve on it, but 'it doesn't work well'.
"One thing I can tell you for sure is the way they’re handling every situation with any player, any athlete, it’s just scary. We’re gonna get to a point where we’re not even gonna be taking electrolytes. Thankfully, I haven’t been in that position. I never want to be.. I’ve been very careful with everything that has to do with supplements."
"But I don’t know what the process is, how things are done behind closed doors. I don’t know who has a say. I have no idea. I would for sure improve the whereabouts app than the anti-doping app. It doesn’t work well. It’s supposed to remind you every day of your time slot & it doesn’t. They tried to improve it, but it’s not working very well."
"For us, we travel so much compared to other athletes. It’s just very stressful. I wake up almost every night to use the bathroom. If that’s close to my time slot, I’m just thinking ‘Do I go? Do I not go? Do I just wait if they come?’ It’s just very stressful."
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