Romanian tennis player Simona Halep was provisionally suspended for doping under Article 7.12.1 of the 2022 Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP). 

After the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) made the announcement, the 31-year-old tennis star responded by saying that the positive result came as the “biggest shock of her life.”

“Today begins the hardest match of my life: a fight for the truth,” Halep wrote on Twitter.

“Throughout my whole career, the idea of cheating never even crossed my mind once, as it is totally against all the values I have been educated with.

Also Read | Simona Halep on doping suspension: I feel completely confused and betrayed

“Facing such an unfair situation, I feel completely confused and betrayed.”

Halep has now joined the likes of Maria Sharapova and Martina Hingis on the list of tennis stars who have been suspended for doping in their careers. Here’s a list of five other tennis stars

1. Andrej Martin: Slovakia’s Andrej Martin was suspended until in August 2022 after being accused of doping. The 32-year-old Martin tested positive for SARM S-22, a synthetic substance that can copy the effects of testosterone, on June 7. However, he denied that he intentionally consumed it.

“The news about the positive doping test shocked me,” Martin said at the time. “I categorically reject the idea that I deliberately took something on the list of prohibited substances. I use very few supplements and have not changed them in the last five years.”

Also Read | Simona Halep, Romanian tennis star, provisionally suspended for doping

2. Maria Sharapova: The Russian tennis star received an initial two-year ban in 2016 after testing positive for a drug called meldonium. The drug was added to the ITF’s banned substance on January 1 that year.

Sharapova said that she used the drug only to treat magnesium deficiency and symptoms of diabetes. Following an investigation, her ban was reduced from two years to 15 months.

3. Barbora Strycova: Strycova of the Czech Republic was suspended for six months after testing positive for banned stimulant sibutramine.

4. Marin Cilic: Cilic of Croatia, a former top-10 tennis player, tested positive for nikethamide, a substance that affects the respiratory system, in 2013. He was banned for nine months. However, he claiming that the drug was present in glucose tablets purchased from a pharmacy.

Also Read | What is Roxadustat, substance Simona Halep is accused of having taken?

5. Martina Hingis: Switzerland’s former world number one tennis player, Martina Hingis, was handed a two-year suspension after testing positive for cocaine at Wimbledon. At the time, the five-time grand slam champion insisted she was “100 per cent innocent.”