Simona Halep has hit back at Caroline Wozniacki after the Romanian suggested that she should not have been given a wildcard at the Miami Open. Halep was defeated on her return after the CAS reduced her doping ban from four years to nine months.
Wozniacki said of Halep’s return: “Well, first of all, I’ve always liked Simona. We’ve always had a good relationship,” she told reporters.
“I’ve been very outspoken in the past about how I feel about doping and all of that. I think my view on doping is the same. I have always wanted a clean sport, fair for everybody. I think it’s definitely still my opinion.
“Again, this is not directly at Simona, but if someone purposely cheats, if someone has tested positive for doping… I understand why a tournament wants a big star in the tournament, but it’s my personal belief, and it’s not a knock on anyone, but it’s my personal belief that I don’t think people should be awarded wildcards afterwards.
“If you want to come back, and it’s been a mistake, I understand, you should work your way up from the bottom. That’s my personal opinion upon things.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t cheat. I didn’t dope,” Halep, who has denied taking the banned substance roxadustat intentionally, argued back in her press conference.
“So it’s better if we read the decision from Cas that it was a contaminated supplement, it wasn’t doping. I never had something to do with doping. I never doped, so I’m not a cheater.
“Only one person being negative about me is not that important because I have hundreds of people that giving me love, so I will take that.”
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