Chris Evert was on Simona Halep’s side throughout the doping scandal, which involved a player from Romania, and now the legendary ex-athlete from the USA spoke about Simona’s chances to return to the top of the WTA hierarchy.

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Chris Evert says Simona Halep can return to the top of the WTA tournament: “She wants revenge”

In a chat with iAM Sport, Evert touched on several important topics, from her full confidence in Simona’s innocence to Halep’s (32) chances to remain at the top of the world rankings.

“I know her and I think I know people. I am very happy for her. Simona is a work ethic person who is extremely disciplined and principled when it comes to training and tennis. I never for a second doubted her innocence.

Her team oversaw his supplements, training, management, advertising, and more. Throughout this ordeal, he showed fortitude and patience. She is free… to play or not to play. Now it is her choice and only hers.

Simona can confidently return to the top of world women’s tennis. The break, however, was long, but she has an extremely strong character. And let’s not forget how badly he wants revenge now. This can change the situation,” he said Chris Evert for the cited source.

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Who is Chris Evert?

Evert was born on December 21, 1954 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA, and first rose to the WTA No. 1 ranking on November 3, 1975.

During his career, he won 154 tournaments, including 18 Grand Slam tournaments (two Australian Open, seven Roland Garros, three Wimbledon and six US Open).

He collected $8,896,195 from tennis prizes alone. In his career, he has 1304 wins and 144 losses.

In 2011, he became a commentator and analyst for ESPN. According to ESPN, Evert has three sons, Colton, Nicholas and Alexander, and works at the Evert Tennis Academy in Boca Raton, Florida.

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According to WTA rules, the former world No. 1 and Grand Slam winner can claim an unlimited number of wildcards.

The first wild card that Simona has already received is the WTA 1000 tournament in Miami, where the former world leader announced her return to tennis.

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What is a wildcard?

• A Wildcard is an invitation that a player can receive from the tournament organizers to participate in this competition (to which he would not normally have access).

The Miami Open is a WTA 1000 category tournament that will be held from March 19 to 31.

About the doping case of Simona Halep

• The news that Simona Halep was temporarily suspended for doping appeared on Friday, October 21, 2022.

• Simona’s case was heard by Sport Resolutions, an independent tribunal in London that hears doping cases in white sport.

• Halep was suspended for 4 years for two separate violations of the Tennis Anti-Doping Program (TADP): the presence and use of the substance roxadustat in a urine sample collected after an anti-doping test conducted at the 2022 US Open (1) and a violation of her biological passport (2).

• Halep was heard at the CAS on February 7-9, 2024.

• TAS reduced Simona Halep’s sentence from 4 years to 9 months.

• On August 29, 2022, Simona Halep played her last official match on the world stage. At the US Open, in the inaugural round, our athlete unexpectedly defeated Daria Snigur (at that time, 124th place in the WTA, based on the qualification).

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