Simona Halep’s lawyer made new revelations about the 32-year-old athlete’s doping case.
Bogdan Stoica, one of the lawyers who defended Simona Halep in the doping case she was involved in, made new backstage revelations.
Stoica said when "it became 100% certain that it was a case of contamination" in Simona Halep's case, although the sabotage option was also considered.
"We read and tried to fit Simona's case into the casuistry faced by other sports and tennis. At first, we had absolutely all scenarios on the table. When I say all scenarios, I mean not only contamination but also sabotage.
Because we even thought about that, about sabotage. After we did the first hair tests in Paris, it became 100% certain that it was contamination.
It took a long time until we managed to discover the source. It was the most important thing in the whole file's economy. Without discovering the source, you can only talk about a four-year sanction.
The regulation provides by default a four-year suspension. The file will set a precedent, which no other court will be able to ignore," said Bogdan Stoica in a podcast.
TAS reduced Simona Halep's doping suspension from 4 years to 9 months, so our athlete has already returned to the court at the Miami Open with the help of a wildcard, where she was defeated by Paula Badosa.