“Halep’s situation is completely different, she tested positive unknowingly,” asserted the Belgian.
Kim Clijsters returns to Served with Andy Roddick to discuss Simona Halep’s wild card in Miami, specifically in regards to Caroline Wozniacki’s opinions on the matter.
Last time Clijsters joined the show, Halep’s status was still questionable. Just a month later however, Halep won her appeal and competed for the first time since 2022 down in Miami.
Wozniacki, however, was not impressed with the tournament’s decision to grant Halep a place in the main draw.
“She was very cautious when she said it, but basically she doesn’t believe people who have doped should be back and be given wild cards,” Roddick said. “Halep didn’t like it. She got defensive and said she’s not a cheater, she didn’t dope. You can tell that she was bothered.”
Roddick openly disagrees with Wozniacki, saying “it’s a business, and you want [Halep] as a storyline.”
“When someone tests positive for taking something to become a better athlete, then I one hundred percent agree with Caroline,” Clijsters said. “Halep’s situation is completely different, she tested positive unknowingly.”
This isn’t the first time the case of doping and wild cards have been debated, and ironically enough, not the first time Halep’s been involved.
“Halep was on record in 2017 when Sharapova came back after time served and given a wild card, saying absolutely under no circumstances someone who has tested positive should be allowed wild cards,” Roddick said.
The Romanian notably fell to Sharapova in the first round of the 2017 US Open as the No. 2 seed.
“Her saying something about Maria in the past shows her vision of how she looks at doping and that she’s not a cheater,” Clijsters said. “In [Halep’s] mind, she didn’t cheat, and I do believe that.”
The two went back and forth on their opinions, referencing their agreements on Halep’s trust in her team that they discussed when Clijsters last appeared on the show. They also speak about the sport’s meticulous drug testing protocols before moving onto both tours being “comeback centric,” referring to Kei Nishikori’s return to tour, Emma Raducanu’s on-again-off-again situation, and Andy Muray’s three-year breakthrough attempt, to name a few.
Jon Wertheim also joined Roddick to discuss the latest news regarding the $2 billion Saudi Arabia deal on the table, as well as what the different outcomes could mean for the tour.“Ironically, Everyone says tennis is treading and every other sport innovates,” Wertheim said. “Here these guys come and say ‘I’ll blow it up, you want to start from scratch?’ And everybody says the change is too radical.”
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