Simona Halep has sued a Canadian company that produced the supplement, she thinks was the cause of her doping, for financial compensation.
The past year of Halep's life mostly revolved around her trying to prove her innocence after producing a sample positive for banned substances. The Romanian initially discloses that her contamination came from a supplement, making fans believe she would be cleared of her charges.
The next months were rather quiet until she was hit with a second doping charge due to biological passport irregularities, which she called "harassment". Things looked bleak then and ultimately were confirmed as such when the court recently ruled against Halep and suspended her for four years from competing on the WTA Tour.
She's set to appeal the decision at the Court of Arbitration of Sports, but until she waits for that, Halep instructed her lawyer to sue the Canadian company that she blamed her contaminated sample on. Her lawyer confirmed the lawsuit to Romanian media but didn't want to share too many details about it.
We sued the Canadian company, I think a month or so ago. The lawsuit can only be one of compensation and has no implications in the sports file.
According to media reports, Halep is suing the company for damaging her image and asking for financial compensation. According to media reports, Halep is seeking 10 million in damages, which is quite an amount.
The company in question Schinoussa Superfood based in Canada has not commented on the lawsuit yet. During her trial, the court accepted Halep's claims that she took contaminated supplements but determined the amount found couldn't have possibly come from her dose of the supplement.
Additional suspicions around her biological passport irregularities only cemented the court's decision to suspend the player who was a fan favourite for a very long time.