Simona Halep was in a bad situation, and it just got much worse.
The former world No. 1, who has been provisionally suspended since October after allegedly testing positive for a banned substance last year, is being charged with a second and separate doping charge by the International Tennis Integrity Agency, the organization announced Friday.
At issue are "irregularities" in Halep's biological passport, an electronic system of markers used to monitor athletes' blood that goes beyond the usual tests for drugs. As tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg noted, the practice is mostly used to look for blood doping.