Howard Jacobs, a lawyer who was part of the team with which Simona Halep appeared in the TAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport), said in an interview with Sports Illustrated that the ITIA (International Tennis Integrity Agency) would have spent almost two million dollars to prove the guilt of ex – WTA leader.

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Howard Jacobs, lawyer: “ITIA spent at least $2 million”

For the quoted source, Jacobs presented some details of the doping process, which resulted in Simone’s sentence being reduced from 4 years to 9 months after the TAS decision.

“I don’t know what happened. I mean, it’s hard to say. I always thought the biological passport file was unfounded. I never understood this case.

And with Roxadustat, you usually provide them (without the anti-doping authorities) with evidence that it is contaminated and either agree to a sanction or fight for a sanction. But this does not happen.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a case as strange as this one… It got very, very confusing. I have no idea how much money they spent on the process.

I can’t even imagine. I would say at least $2 million because they had so many experts and so many lawyers and everything was contested,” he said. Howard Jacobs.

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Asked why these tennis fines keep getting reduced after CAS appeals, Howard Jacobs said: “That’s a good question. This is an issue I raised during the CAS appeal of the Sharapova case, and it hasn’t really changed.

I don’t know if the court composition that has historically been in tennis is just too hard. That is, there is a very consistent pattern of CAS penalty reductions in tennis cases.

Not in all cases, but in many of them. And I don’t know why. Perhaps tennis players, unlike other Olympic sports, can afford to defend themselves [ei cred] that it’s a slightly fairer fight.”

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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, she took 124th place in the WTA ranking according to the qualification results).

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