​On Wednesday, CAS began hearings in the case of Simona Halep, which will continue until Friday, and the possible favorable verdict was analyzed by the former doctor of the Romanian football team, Pompiliu Popescu.

>> LiveBlog of Simona Halep, listening on TAS – The most important details from the first day

Doctor Pompiliu Popescu does not believe in the return of Simona Halep to the field

The doctor of the Romanian national football team during the “Golden Generation” gave an interview about the hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in the case of Simona Halep.

Pompiliu Popescu does not believe in acquitting the athlete, but in softening the punishment in the form of a four-year disqualification.

At the same time, the doctor does not agree with Simona’s strategy of blaming other people and claims that she should not have considered herself a victim.

“I don’t think she should be acquitted, she may have a chance to reduce her original four-year ban. But it can’t be discounted much, and she’s too old for professional sports, so I don’t see her getting back on the field at all.

We discussed this before and told you: it’s a shame that he ends his career badly! This happens because she chose the wrong path, she was not well advised.

She chose to blame people, institutions, laboratories, she followed a path that had no chance of success. He had better admit it. Then people, her supporters would understand that this is really a mistake, and that’s it.

If this court in Lausanne acquits Simona Halep, it means that everything related to anti-doping must be abolished: WADA, the World Agency, the laboratories.

Well, what is the point if an athlete who is found to have used doping by an independent tribunal and banned for four years is found innocent by CAS?” – said Pompiliu Popescu for Fanatic.

What you need to know about Simona Halep’s doping case

• 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).

• Simone has only one appeal: the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.

• According to the Court of Arbitration for Sport on its official website, Halep will be heard by CAS on February 7-9, 2024.

• A Swiss court said the former WTA leader had asked to overturn the decision of the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) and “reduce” its sanctions.

• If the 4-year disqualification remains in force, then the ex-WTA leader can theoretically return to the tennis court on October 6, 2026. Halep would have turned 35 at that time.

• 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).