Ion Țiriac (85 years old) spoke to the press in France and made a statement full of sincerity regarding Simona Halep (34 years old) and the doping case in which the athlete was recently involved.
Ţiriac told the French that Simona Halep made a mistake when she chose to take the blame for the Keto MCT supplement she consumed, which led to her positive test for roxadustat and suspension for doping.
Additionally, Ţiriac said that in his opinion, Simona will not return to the level she was at before the doping suspension because "she has lost too much time and energy."
"Once she tested positive, she made a serious mistake: she should have said that she simply drank the drink her team had prepared. Instead, she protected her team.
I tried to help her, but she said, 'Nobody touches my team, I was the one who drank it.' Only three months later, her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, took over the situation. That the product was too old and contained a doping substance, it could not necessarily be anticipated, I know that.
Simona has lost too much time and energy on this issue. I don't think she will return to the same level.
It's a shame for her, because she was extremely talented, maybe too talented, and still had motivation," said Ion Țiriac, quoted by welovetennis.fr.