Did legendary American tennis player Serena Williams actually take a dig at Simona Halep? Well, one can only speculate. Halep was suspended from tennis for four years for anti-doping rule violations. Following this, Williams apparently took a dig at the Romanian on social media.
“8 is a better number,” Williams wrote on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter).
For the unversed, Halep had stopped Williams from winning her eighth Wimbledon title in 2019. The former world number one had defeated Williams 6-2, 6-2 in the women’s singles final.
Williams, who retired from the game after last year’s US Open, now seems to have staked claim for her eighth Wimbledon title, if Halep is at all stripped of her trophies because of the suspension.
Meanwhile, Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian also seemed to have mocked Halep by sharing a post on social media. Ohanian came up with a throwback picture of himself wearing a D.A.R.E (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) t-shirt at a 2019 US Open first-round fixture in which Williams had defeated former Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova.
“Some fashion is timeless,” read the caption of Ohanian’s post. It was speculated that Ohanian’s t-shirt was in reference to the two-year doping suspension, which Sharapova had to face back in 2016.
Williams responded to the post by commenting, “Seriously not out of style.”
Halep is a two-time Grand Slam champion. The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) conveyed that Halep was suspended for two different anti-doping rule violations. Halep has remained provisionally suspended since October last year. The provisional suspension was ruled after she tested positive for a banned blood-booster Roxadustat at the US Open in 2022.
Halep, however, did not accept the decision and intends to appeal to The Court of Arbitration for Sport.
“I am continuing to train and do everything in my power to clear my name of these false allegations and return to the court. I intend to appeal this decision to The Court of Arbitration for Sport and pursue all legal remedies against the supplement company in question,” read a statement shared by the 31-year-old player.
Simona Halep claimed the top spot in the WTA rankings six years back. Halep won her maiden Grand Slam title at the 2018 French Open where she defeated America’s Sloane Stephens in the final. Halep claimed her second Grand Slam at the Wimbledon a year later.
