Sara Maria Popa, a teenage Romanian tennis prodigy recently accused the Patrick Mouratoglou Academy of supporting the use of Performance enhancing drugs and substances for the junior players of the academy.
Simona Halep’s ex-coach Patrick Mouratoglou has previously clarified on behalf of the academy that the academy was clean. He mentioned that there was no use of drugs or PEDs in his academy on their players. However, this recent claim by the Romanian youngster has given rise to more speculation about the use of these ‘substances’ in the academy.
In an interview given to Antena Group, Romania, the 18-year-old prodigy made bold revelations on the drug abuse and ill-treatment of the younger athletes that is carried out in the academy, and that too with written consent from the player and their parents.
She claimed that the reason the junior players are encouraged to use these kinds of PEDs and substances is because there is a lack of inspection from the anti-doping control department. This doesn’t stop until the player is 17, after which everyone goes through a rigorous anti-doping test.
“There are many athletes who take those substances, only they don’t get caught because they know exactly when to eliminate the substance, and they know exactly when to take them,” said Maria Popa.
The youngster illustrated her side of the story as well, claiming that although this practice was quite common in the academy amongst the junior players, she was the one who never took any substance or drugs offered by the institute’s nutritionists.
“I, for example, was tested weekly and never took. Supplements are different from the substances that the physical trainers and doctors at the Academies give to the athletes. Supplements are exactly the daily pills that every person can take. I went when I was 12 years old. I played at the Mouratoglou Academy. It is true, from a young age athletes are given some substances,” she further added to her statements.
👇🇷🇴 Maria Sara Popa accuses the Mouratoglou Academy of helping to supply ‘substances’ to junior players, and says it is a widespread issue:
— Olly 🎾🇬🇧 (@Olly_Tennis_) February 16, 2024
“There are many athletes who take those substances, only they don't get caught because they know exactly when to eliminate the substance… pic.twitter.com/LXRk5d722Z
The founder of the academy, Patrick Mouratoglou remains silent and hasn’t given any statements on the matter yet.
Patrick Mouratoglou feels that he was ‘responsible’ for Simona Halep’s doping incident
Simona Halep’s ex-coach Patrick Mouratoglou came out to say that he felt ‘responsible’ for Halep’s tennis ban. He’s confident that the Romanian will receive justice from the CAS.
When Simona Halep was being coached by Patrick Mouratoglou at the 2022 US Open, she tested positive for a banned substance called Roxadustat. The Romanian was later given a four-year suspension for doping violations revolving around the use of banned doping substances.
“There is no way to know it, but I feel responsible for what happened because it’s my team, so me basically me, who brought her this collagen,” Mouratoglou said.
