«Anomalies in the biological passport» – Corriere.it

That of Simona Halep — which had sensational new developments a few days ago — is rapidly revealing itself as the most sensational doping case in the entire history of tennis, with an impact greater than that which interested Maria Sharapova. The first reason is that the 31-year-old Romanian is (or was) one of the strongest players on the planet: number one in the world from February 26, 2018 to January 28, 2019, in the top ten for seven years, Halep has won two slam (Roland Garros 2018 and Wimbledon 2019) also conquering three finals, two in Paris in 2014 and 2017, another at the Australian Open. The total earnings achieved with the prizes by the tennis player are close to 40 million euros.

The other reason for the clamor is unfortunately doping, which exploded for the first time in August 2022 after a surprise check on the eve of the US Open: in Halep’s urine there was Roxadustat (FG-4592) a forbidden and in its own way mysterious substance. Roxadustat is a potent antianemic that stimulates the production of red blood cells in seriously ill acting on the natural production mechanisms of erythropoietin. Patented in China, approved for medical use in 2021, it was immediately banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) as assimilated to the Epo: by increasing red blood cells (among other things with heavy side effects) FG-4592 is clearly doping.

desperate, Halep has counterattacked by hiring a powerful group of lawyers and chemical experts. Until, last December he said he could prove that the substance was taken involuntarily through a supplement that did not indicate it on the label. An extenuating factor that would not avoid disqualification but could reduce it compared to the canonical 4 years. What this supplement is is not known, but independent experts are a lot perplexed that a recently patented and very expensive active ingredient could be contained in a food supplementeven in the form of a contaminant. In order to explain herself Halep asked – without getting it at the moment – to be able to be judged quickly both by the tennis court and by the Tas of Lausanne.

But now another tile falls on the former champion. The International Tennis Integrity Agency (Itia) which is in charge of managing checks and processes on behalf of the federation has announced that the Romanian judge has been subjected to a second and separate disciplinary procedure for anomalies of his biological passport. An indirect and effective method of controlling blood doping, the passport (widely used in endurance sports such as athletics and cycling, where it has unmasked dozens of cheaters) had never been applied in tennis where it has been in force since 2013. In practice, by examining longitudinally the values ​​of five blood parameters with a formula based on Bayesian statistics (widespread in criminology), the three experts of the agency would have noticed repeated profile changes that would indicate continued doping and separate from the 2022 episode.

“We understand how today’s announcement adds complexity to an already high-profile situation – they explain to ITIA – but since the beginning of this process we have been committed to Ms. Halep to communicate in an empathetic, efficient and timely manner”. Now Halep will have to clarify both facts (“A nightmare” she called them) and the impression is that escaping a heavy sentence will be very difficult.