Beatriz Haddad Maia: From Doping Suspension To WTA Title Winner
WTA
Beatriz Haddad Maia has endured some difficult moments during her career to date, but the Brazilian came through those hard times to win her first WTA title in Nottingham.
The Brazilian was a talented player from a young age. After a strong run of form on the ITF Circuit in the second half of 2016 and early 2017, she broke into the Top 100, reaching that milestone before her 21st birthday.
Haddad Maia then progressed to her first WTA Tour final in September 2017 at the Korea Open. Although she finished as the runner-up to Jelena Ostapenko, her career seemed to be on an upward trajectory.
However, life became more difficult for Haddad Maia after that. She suffered an injury in 2018 and took a short hiatus from the sport during that year, which halted the momentum she had been building.
But things got much worse in 2019. After a positive test for metabolites of two Selective androgen receptor modulator drugs, Beatriz Haddad Maia was given an instant provisional suspension by the International Tennis Federation on July 23, 2019.
Although the ITF ruled in February 2020 that the supplement ingested was contaminated, Haddad Maia was still banned until 22 May 2020. After her time away from the sport, her ranking dropped to 1342.
Despite that setback, the Brazilian immediately began working to get herself back up the rankings. In 2021, she added five titles on the ITF Circuit, ending the year inside the Top 100.
After winning a Challenger Tour title in Saint-Malo in May, the biggest moment of Haddad Maia's career to date came in Nottingham. After progressing to the quarterfinals, she knocked out the No. 1 seed Maria Sakkari.
Haddad Maia then made the final after Tereza Martincova retired in the semifinal. The 26-year-old claimed the title with a tight 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 triumph over Alison Riske to complete her remarkable recovery since her doping suspension.
Latest Comments
- Kyrgios will do anything to stay in the news.shirley19-12-2024
- A technical error.
MrMustard18-12-2024 - All that is said , all that is done. Nick has 0 grand slams wins. Everything else is hot 🥵 air.MrMustard18-12-2024
- All that is said , all that isMrMustard18-12-2024
- Kyrgios is a jerk.shirley17-12-2024
- If Jessica Pegula had to undergo such horror for using a bannes substance, so do these two tennis players. Penalty should apply to all players regardless of their excuses. They are professionals and know better!!
Stella112-12-2024 - All players should be treated the same for taking banned substances, if your no 1 in the world or no 300 man or woman you should not be allowed to keep playing,,VPH108-12-2024
- Ah, censored again. No one gets to read my comment. LOLjjluvsports08-12-2024
- Reynolds, could you list all the wars started by the U.S. and U.K., or will you run out of paper? Hypocrisy.jjluvsports06-12-2024
- IDK, it looks like to me that Raducanu should praise herself and her team for 'gaming the system' as in playing the points and ranking game. When you look at her season of wild cards, skipping tournaments (including the Paris Olympics!), retiring from losing matches and avoiding qualifying rounds, it seems like there was some plan to move up the ranks without actually playing a lot of tennis. And it worked! Congrats!RealityCheckers04-12-2024