Caroline Wozniacki, one of the Romanian’s old rivals, did not accept the return of Simona Halep to the WTA tournament because of the wild card offered by the organizers of Miami. Daneza says that athletes who test positive should not receive invitations, but start from scratch, trying to get back into the sport’s elite.

Simona Halep lost her first official match since her doping ban, losing 6-1, 4-6, 3-6 to Paula Badoza in the first round of the WTA Miami 1000 tournament.

Context

When asked what she thought of Simona Halep’s return to the WTA tournament, Caroline Wozniacki (the athlete who won her only Grand Slam title immediately after the final with Halep – Australian Open 2018) said that, from her point of view, the players who were rated positively, there are they should not get wild cards.

Caroline Wozniacki says players who test positive should not be given a wild card to return to the sport

After losing to Paula Badoza (6-1, 4-6, 3-6) in the first round of the WTA in Miami, Simona was asked at a press conference what she thought about Wozniacki saying she should not have received a wild card on her return in tennis

Halep invited the Dane to read the CAS decision and note that this is a contaminated supplement.

“Caroline Wozniacki was here earlier today and she said she doesn’t think people who are out of the game for the reasons you were out should get wild cards into tournaments. I wonder what your reaction is to that?” – this was the question Simona Halep received at the press conference.

“Yes, but why? I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t cheat. I did not use doping. Therefore, it is better if we read the decision of TAC that it was a contaminated supplement, it is not doping.

I have never had anything to do with doping. I’ve never doped, so I’m not a cheater,” he told them Simona Halep journalists, quoted by News.ro.

Halep looked puzzled at first and asked in turn, “Why did he say that?”

Find out after the match between Simona Halep and Paula Bados

• Simona Halep will receive a check for $23,250 and 10 points in the world singles ranking (she ranks 1140th in the Live hierarchy) for being in the main draw of WTA Miami.

• Paula Bados (80 WTA) should play in the second round. Aryna Sabalenko (2 WTA), if the player from Belarus does not decide to withdraw (after the death of her lover).

• This is Paula’s first victory over Simona. In the first meetings (both took place in 2022), the Romanian won: 6-3, 6-1 in Madrid and 6-1, 6-2 in Wimbledon.

• After Simona HalepAna Bohdan and Jacqueline Christian were eliminated in the first round, Romania has only one representative in Miami: Sorana Kirstia (second round – match with Sloane Stevens or Angelique Kerber).

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

• 18 months of nightmare followed for the former WTA leader – she was banned 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. test conducted at the US Open 2022 (1) and irregularities in his biological passport (2). Halep appealed to the CAS, which reduced her sentence to 9 months.