Simona Halep responds to Serena Williams throwing shade

Simona Halep appears to have an odd worldview. The former WTA number 1 was recently banned for four years due to a doping charge. In their findings, an independent tribunal for the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) found that Halep had taken a substance called roxadustat. And not just a little of the substance, but enough to create a 126-page report on the tribunal’s findings.

Halep has said she is going to appeal her ban (one year of which she has already served as she was suspended for the past year), but there does appear to be a lot of evidence to suggest she is guilty of what she is charged. One of her former rivals, Serena Williams, responded to Halep’s ban by tweeting “8 is a better number” which appears to be a reference to Halep beating Williams in the 2019 Wimbledon final.

That was Simona Halep’s only Wimbledon victory, while Serena Williams won 8 Wimbledon titles and 23 Grand Slams overall. The bottom line is professional athletes work their tails off to reach the highest level of their sport and if another player is caught cheating then the player caught cheating should receive some proper shade. They are breaking the rules while the other player is trying to stay clean and work their way to the top.

Simona Halep has a silly response to Serena Williams

Simona Halep has decided to respond to Serena’s tweet, however. And Simona Halep’s response is fairly weak. Halep told Front Office Sports, “I think everyone has the right to judge me because the tribunal decided that I have the fault here. Someone told me today that those players who are hating on me because I beat them.”

Oh, really, Miss Simona Halep? Yes, she defeated Serena Williams in the 2019 Wimbledon final, but in the overall head-to-head Williams defeated Halep in 10 of the 12 matches they played. This includes Serena Williams beating Simona Halep in four of the five matches they played at Grand Slam events. If anything, Halep should be “hating” on Williams because Williams took her to task in 83 percent of the matches they played.

Also, in Halep’s response is that the “tribunal decided” that she was guilty of doping. 126 pages of evidence against Halep implies there is a lot of proof she cheated. Hopefully, she will never get to play again.