Darren Cahill, a renowned coach who helped Simona Halep to Grand Slam glory, said Monday there was “no chance, none, zero,” that the former world number one purposely took drugs.

The Romanian was provisionally suspended at the weekend for taking the banned substance roxadustat after she provided a sample at the US Open.

Halep insisted she would “fight until the end” to prove her innocence with the result “the biggest shock of my life”.

The 2018 French Open and 2019 Wimbledon champion is the highest-profile player to fail a drugs test since Maria Sharapova in 2016.

Australian Cahill, who guided Halep to world number one in 2017 and her Roland Garros crown in a six-year alliance, leapt to her defence in a lengthy Instagram post.

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