Simona Halep might be banned from tennis, but the Romanian is still practicing, hoping for a positive conclusion to the nightmare that's been ongoing for over a year.
Simona Halep won the Canadian Open in 2022 and looked to be on cloud nine heading into the US Open. She fancied her chances at the event but lost pretty early in a major upset, but that was only the start of her nightmare.
In fact, she probably had no idea what was coming. A provisional ban was coming as her US Open sample was positive for a banned substance which started her battle to prove her innocence.
That provisional ban was enforced this year with a final 4-year ban due to two separate violations of the anti-doping programme. It came as a huge shock to Halep, who already described the whole process as a witchhunt.
She promised to fight this new ruling, which she can by challenging the ruling at the Court of Arbitration for Sport. CAS has the ability to suspend the ruling, allowing her to return to sport, but it's far from a certainty.
The whole process seems to be a mess because conflicting reports are coming from all sides, whether Halep is truly innocent or not. She's spoken since the official ban, reiterating her innocence, but ultimately, we have to wait for the decision of CAS.
If they uphold the ruling, Hale's career is all but over because she'll have to serve a few more years of her ban, and who knows whether she would ever attempt a comeback after that.
If CAS strikes down the ruling, Halep will return to tennis but will have missed a lot of time. Even so, the Romanian is not giving up hope, and she's keeping in shape by regularly practicing as if she's playing.
A recent video on Instagram proves that, especially since she chose Never Give Up by Sia as the background song.
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