Ahmad Nassar, Executive Director of the Novak Djokovic-led Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA), recently commented on the case of Simona Halep’s doping suspension.
Halep was provisionally suspended from professional tennis in 2022 after testing positive for Roxadustat, a banned substance that promotes the growth of endogenous erythropoietin (EPO) for better endurance. She hasn’t been allowed to compete since then, and the hearing dates set by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) keep getting pushed back.
Many in the tennis world have voiced support for the former World No. 1, saying that, guilty or not, the decision by the ITIA about her appeal needs to be made quickly.
The Executive Director of the PTPA Ahmad Nassar also weighed in on the issue recently. He posted a reply to John Millman, who previously called out other players for not publicly reacting in support of Halep.
Nassar agreed that what was happening to Halep wasn’t fair, saying that situations like this one are why the PTPA was created in the first place.
“Agree that it’s a disgrace. Patently unfair to Simona Halep, her family, team, and fans. However, I am not surprised that the tour hasn’t spoken out on this. The tours long ago abdicated their responsibilities towards the players here,” Nassar tweeted.
“This is just one example of why claiming to adequately represent the players & tournaments simultaneously simply does not work. And one reason why player leaders decided to create PTPA in the mold of other sports,” the former NFL Players Inc. president added.
Some fans replied to Nassar, asking whether his organization has shown public support for the Romanian.
“The PTPA has tweeted directly at least twice (last year and again in March this year). Plus retweeting several of my posts. But this isn’t about tweets or the lack thereof my friends,” Nassar replied.
“We want the same thing: justice for Simona and all players ensnared by an overzealous and unfair anti-doping regime. Let’s keep the focus on that,” he added.
Former Romanian tennis player Ilie Nastase recently commented on the situation of his compatriot Simona Halep, who is currently suspended for allegedly taking a banned substance.
Even though Halep hasn’t played since late 2022, Nastase believes she can get back to the top of the WTA rankings if she returns to the circuit.
“Simona will recover, she was number 1, you can’t always be number 1… but she has the qualities to be No. 1 again,” Nastase told Digi Sport.
The former French Open and US Open champion called Halep’s situation with the ITIA ‘complicated’.
“Simona, I don’t know, her situation is complicated. As Mr. [Ion] Țiriac also said, she had to hurry at the beginning because then they chopped her. The longer you delay her, the longer she will wait to be able to play tennis again,” he said.