ITIA a tratat dur cazul lui Halep, care a încălcat regulile antidoping, dar s-a arătat blândă cu alți sportivi care au încălcat aceleași reguli. De exemplu, americanul care a încercat să fenteze controalele antidoping.

Simona Halep (32 years old) has reasons to be upset! For a year, ITIA has persistently demanded that the Romanian be severely punished and, following the decision from Sport Resolutions, it was revealed that ITIA officials had even requested a 6-year suspension for „Simo”.

Now, when we see another doping decision in tennis, but in the men’s category, we realize that the punishment imposed on Halep, a 4-year suspension, is extremely severe.

American tennis player Jenson Brooksby has been suspended for a period of 18 months after failing three doping tests within a year, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced in a statement cited by international news agencies.

The 22-year-old Californian, who reached 33rd place in the world rankings in June 2022, his career-best ranking, will be able to resume competing in January 2025. ITIA stated in the statement that Brooksby’s suspension was confirmed following a meeting held on October 10, attended by the player and his witnesses, including an anti-doping control agent.

Brooksby, who has since dropped to 301st place in the world, admitted to failing the first and third doping tests but contests the validity of the second test, which he believes he missed. The tribunal rejected the American’s arguments and imposed an 18-month suspension.

„After examining the evidence, the tribunal concluded that Brooksby’s degree of responsibility for the missed test is high,” ITIA emphasized.

The tribunal noted that an anti-doping control agent who attempted to conduct the second test „was deprived of all reasonable measures” to locate Brooksby at that time.

„The whereabouts program is an essential means of maintaining a clean sport, and no one wants players to violate the rules in this manner,” said Karen Moorhouse, CEO of ITIA, in the statement. „We urgently ask all players to take the necessary steps to ensure they are diligent in their whereabouts declarations,” the official emphasized.

Brooksby stated that he intends to appeal, promising to „continue the fight” in an Instagram post after the announcement of his suspension. „I have never taken a banned substance in my life, and I have been open and honest with ITIA throughout this case,” Brooksby assured. He explained that his second test was missed in June 2022 after his hotel room was booked under his physiotherapist’s name, which led the anti-doping control agent to believe that he was absent.