Simona Halep missed months on the sidelines because of suspension and returned to court at the Miami Open in March this year. In March only, World No.1 Jannik Sinner failed two drug tests but the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) kept it a secret from everyone until August, when they released the report which caused quite a stir in the tennis world.

Halep tested positive for roxadustat at the 2022 US Open and the ITIA imposed a four-year ban on her. The ban was reduced to nine months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after Halep’s appeal.

The Romanian, like many, just couldn’t understand why Sinner and Swiatek were allowed to play and had to deal with mild punishment. Halep said she ‘lost’ her ‘sleep’ once again after thinking about how she was treated because, for her, the entire thing is ‘big pain, big pain’. She questioned why these two players were allowed to play when she wasn’t.

Both Sinner and Swiatek successfully found the source of the banned substances and immediately appealed but the ITIA back then couldn’t locate roxadustat in Keto MCT that she had been taking and the case took time to resolve.

Simona Halep was shocked upon learning about Iga Swiatek‘s case. Swiatek tested positive for trimetazidine in August and faced a three-week suspension, missing three tournaments (Korea Open, China Open, and Wuhan Open).

She came back to play at the WTA Finals and the Billie Jean King Cup after which the ITIA made her case public, stating that Swiatek was given a one-month ban. Simona Halep, without naming anyone asked the logic behind the verdict.

Swiatek has already served her one-month ban and won’t be facing any interruptions in the next season. Because she missed three months of tennis, she was dethroned from the top of the rankings by Aryna Sabalenka who also had successful campaigns in North American and Asian hard-court tournaments.