Former world No. 1 Simona Halep has been provisionally suspended by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (IITA) after failing doping control at the United States Open last August.
IAIT announced on Friday the suspension of Halep, two-time Grand Slam champion and currently ninth in the WTA rankings.
Halep won the French Open in 2018 and followed it up a year later with a triumph at the Wimbledon Open.
In a social media post, Halep called the news “the biggest shock of my life”, before adding: “Faced with such an unjust situation, I feel completely confused and betrayed”.
“I will fight until the end to prove that I never knowingly took any prohibited substance whatsoever, wrote Halep, and I trust that sooner or later the truth will come out. »
The 31-year-old from Romania, Halep recently announced she is taking the rest of the season off after undergoing nose surgery to improve her breathing.
She considered retiring at the start of the year after a series of injuries, but said she felt rejuvenated after teaming up in April with instructor Patrick Mouratoglou, who had previously worked with Serena Williams.
Halep was the seventh-seeded U.S. Open this summer when she lost in the first round 2-6, 6-0, 4-6 to Ukraine’s Daria Snigur, a player who came from qualifying.
Two weeks earlier, she had won the National Bank Cup in Toronto for her third career title in Canada after her victories in Montreal in 2016 and 2018.
Spokespersons for the US Tennis Association and Mouratoglou declined to comment.
IALI said Halep tested positive for the banned substance Roxadustat, a drug approved for medical use in the European Union to treat symptoms of anemia caused by chronic kidney failure.
Halep claimed he was told his test showed “an extremely small amount”.
According to the European Medicines Agency, which approved Roxadustat last year, the drug stimulates the body to produce more of the natural hormone erythropoietin, or EPO, which has long been a favored doping product for cyclists and long-distance runners.
During a provisional suspension, a tennis player cannot participate or attend any sanctioned event.
Under the World Anti-Doping Code, Halep faces a suspension of up to four years for testing positive for a substance like Roxadustat. Athletes can get their suspension reduced, likely up to three years, if they quickly acknowledge the infraction and accept their sanction.
Tennis authorities will handle the case and any decision may be challenged by the World Anti-Doping Agency in an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
“Today begins the toughest game of my life: a battle for the truth,” Halep wrote on Friday.
Sports journalist Graham Dunbar of the Associated Press in Geneva contributed to this text