Simona Halep has hit back at Caroline Wozniacki following the Dane’s controversial comments on the back of Miami Open organisers’ decision to hand Halep a wildcard for the tournament.
Playing for the first time since August 2022 after her doping suspension was reduced from four years to nine months, Halep produced a solid effort against Paula Badosa in the first round on Tuesday but eventually went down 1-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Halep’s wildcard entry, though, didn’t go down well with fellow former world No 1 Wozniacki as she told reporters: “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.”
Halep was initially suspended in October 2022 after the banned substance roxadustat was found in her sample, but the Romanian protested her innocence throughout the ordeal as she stated that she took a contaminated supplement.
She was eventually banned for four years in September 2023 with her return date set for October 2026.
The 32-year-old appealed the decision and on March 5 this year the Court for Arbitration for Sport agreed with her that her positive sample was likely the result of a contaminated product and was cleared to return to competitive action immediately.
Not long after the Miami Open offered her a wildcard and she accepted.
When asked about Wozniacki’s comments, the two-time Grand Slam winner replied: “I didn’t do anything wrong. I didn’t cheat. I didn’t dope,” she said.
“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. Thank you to the tournament for giving me the wildcard and have the possibility to play in such a big tournament. It was great to be back.
“Only one person being negative about me is not that important because I have hundreds of people that are giving me love, so I will take that.”
But away from the wildcard debate, there were plenty of positives for Halep despite her defeat to Badosa.
“It felt really good. I had emotions, positive emotions to see the crowd supporting me was so nice and gave me a lot of energy and the level of tennis was pretty good, unexpected I think, for most of the people,” she said.
“It is a special day. I would say this day is going to stay very special for me.
“Of course, I have many results in the past, big results but here is something more than tennis, it is something personal.”