Simona Halep learns her fate as verdict over doping ban is confirmed

Ewan West
A delighted Simona Halep
Simona Halep

Simona Halep is set to return to tennis after her four-year doping ban was reduced to nine months following her appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). 

The former world No 1 can play again with immediate effect as she has already served more than nine months of her ban, having been unable to play since the 2022 US Open.

Halep appeared before the CAS from Wednesday February 7 to Friday February 9 for her appeal hearing, which took place at the CAS Headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The CAS panel revealed that the two time Grand Slam champion’s appeal had been successful in a statement released on Tuesday.

“Having carefully considered all the evidence put before it, the Cas Panel determined that Ms Halep had established, on the balance of probabilities, that the Roxadustat entered her body through the consumption of a contaminated supplement which she had used in the days shortly before 29 August 2022,” it said.

“The Roxadustat, as detected in her sample, came from that contaminated product. As a result, the CAS Panel determined that Ms Halep had also established, on the balance of probabilities, that her anti-doping rule violations were not intentional.

“Although the CAS Panel found that Ms Halep did bear some level of fault or negligence for her violations, as she did not exercise sufficient care when using the Keto MCT supplement, it concluded that she bore no significant fault or negligence.”

READ MORE: Simona Halep sues company for huge damages over supplement linked to doping ban

Halep was handed a four-year ban from the sport for “intentional” doping offences by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) in September. The Romanian denied having “knowingly or intentionally used any prohibited substance” and immediately announced she would appeal the decision.

Prior to her ban, Halep had been provisionally suspended since October 2022 after she tested positive for the banned substance Roxadustat at the 2022 US Open. She was subsequently charged with irregularities in her Athlete Biological Passport (ABP).

The ITIA confirmed in September that both the charges for Halep’s positive test for Roxadustat, and for the irregularities in her Athlete Biological Passport, had been upheld, with an independent tribunal suspending her for four years for breaches of the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP).

The 32-year-old, who has not played since her opening round defeat to Daria Snigur at the 2022 US Open, can now make her tennis comeback as soon as she chooses.

Related Articles