Simona Halep on her relationship with Bouchard: 'We don't speak'

Simona Halep says that she was not among the players who talked to Eugenie Bouchard about playing Maria Sharapova.

On Monday, Bouchard upset former world No. 1 Sharapova in three long sets. She had previously called the Russian a "cheater" in her return from a 15-month ban for testing positive for meldonium. Sharapova has said she took the substance for medical reasons for many years and did not know it had become banned.

“I didn’t wish good luck to Bouchard because we don’t speak, actually,” Halep said following her second-round win in Madrid. “She’s different, I can say. I cannot judge her for being this. I cannot admire her for being this. I have nothing to say about her person.”

Bouchard said she got a lot of messages, and had players in the locker room offering her good luck before her match against Sharapova.

“It showed me that most people have my opinion, and they were just maybe scared to speak out,” Bouchard said. “But privately I've had a lot of support, so I was motivated to play.”

Halep—who lost to Sharapova, 6-4, in the third set of the 2014 French Open final—said her return hasn't had much effect on her.

“Maria Sharapova, she is back,” Halep said. “I'm not thinking that much, because many players are difficult in this level of tennis, the highest level of tennis. For me it's the same if Maria is here, if Maria is not here. I don't feel extra motivated. I didn't meet her yet. But it's the same for me."

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