US Open: Simona Halep out while suspended, and draw won’t be live

The US Open begins next week. The men’s side could feature a matchup we all want to see, of course. Carlos Alcaraz versus Novak Djokovic in the final? Yes, please! But the women’s side is much more wide open. We do know that two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep won’t be playing in New York, though.

Tennis doping rules are tight. Even if a player has a prescription for something they might actually need, that drug might still go against what tennis allows. At the 2022 US Open, Halep tested positive for Roxadustat. The drug is used in Europe to help treat anemia but usually as it relates to chronic kidney failure. If Halep were to have chronic kidney failure, fans would likely know about it.

Halep received a provisional suspension due to her positive test which means she cannot compete in a sanctioned event. Halep was also accused in May of a second doping chart, but the International Tennis Integrity Agency, and this related to her biological passport. Halep has denied having any banned substance in her system due to the incident in May.

Simona Halep is automatically withdrawn from the US Open

But due to Halep still having her provisional suspension, she was automatically withdrawn from the US Open. She hasn’t played this year, of course, in a WTA event and Halep is currently ranked 1,140. We may have seen the last of Halep play high-quality tennis.

In other US Open news, the tournament will not hold a live draw. Of course, this upsets fans quite a bit as we cannot see the draw unfold before our eyes. Some have insinuated that the US Open can also fix the draw itself to promote better potential matches deep in the tournament. Normally, the top seeds are spread out over the draw and then lesser seeds or unseeded players are sprinkled in.

The draw occurs on Thursday, so it will be interesting to see if there are any odd matchups. But next year, the people in charge of the US Open should just live stream the draw.