British tennis player handed long doping suspension as significant verdict is announced
Doping in tennis is set to explode back into the news once again after British player Tara Moore was handed a four-year suspension in a long-running case.
The 32-year-old, who has a career-high ranking of No 145 in singles and No 77 in doubles, posted a positive test for nandrolone and boldenone at a tournament in the Colombian capital Bogota.
She was initially cleared by an independent tribunal 18 months ago following a positive test result in April 2022, but that decision was challenged by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) and their case has been supported by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
It means Moore will now start her four-year ban immediately, although it will be reduced by the 19 months as Moore has already been suspended for that period of time before her initial successful appeal.
Moore has been an outspoken critic of the ITIA and was vocal in what she saw as the double standards of the doping system being overseen by the ITIA when both Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek were handed short bans after they failed doping tests.
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“I guess only the top players’ images matter,” Moore wrote on X after Sinner was initially found to be not liable for his positive doping test by the ITIA last year.
“I guess only the independent tribunal’s opinion on the top players is taken as sound and right. Yet, they question them in my case. Just makes no sense.”
She also questioned why Swiatek was allowed to play at last year’s Billie Jean King Cup as she posted this message:
Wait… so she was supposed to be suspended until Dec 4th yet played BJK cup.. which was (correct me if I’m wrong) LAST WEEK. HOW WAS SHE ALLOWED TO PLAY WHILST BEING SUSPENDED??? Someone plz explain cause I’m spiralling. @jon_wertheim @Tennis @TennisChannel https://t.co/bwd1NDpz26
— Tara Moore (@TaraMoore92) November 28, 2024
The ITIA posted a statement on their website giving their summary of the story, as they outlined their case.
“In December 2023, an independent tribunal determined that Moore bore No Fault or Negligence for their Adverse Analytical Findings and therefore was not subject to a period of ineligibility,” read a statement on the ITIA website.
|CAS upheld the ITIA’s appeal against the first instance No Fault or Negligence ruling with respect to nandrolone, issuing Moore with a four-year period of ineligibility – with a credit for time served under provisional suspension.”
ITIA Chief Executive Officer Karen Moorhouse also gave her reaction to the verdict as she said: “For the ITIA, every case is considered according to the individual facts and circumstances.
“Our bar for appealing a first instance decision is high, and the decision is not taken lightly. In this case, our independent scientific advice was that the player did not adequately explain the high level of nandrolone present in their sample. Today’s ruling is consistent with this position.
“We understand that players and their support teams may have questions about this decision, and we will answer these fully once we have reviewed the details of the ruling.”