Simona Halep doping ban reduced to nine months, free to resume tennis career

Simona Halep’s doping ban was officially reduced by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) from four years to nine months, leaving her free to resume her tennis career with immediate effect.

Halep released a statement on Instagram praising the decision and thanking fans on social media in the hours following the CAS decision.

“In the midst of this challenging journey, my unwavering belief in the integrity of the truth and in the principles of justice has been my beacon. Despite facing daunting accusations and formidable opposition, my spirit remained buoyant, anchored in my unwavering conviction of being a clean athlete. This ordeal has been a testament to resilience, and the triumph of truth is a bittersweet vindication that, albeit delayed, is immensely gratifying,” she wrote.

The CAS Panel "has unanimously determined that the four-year period of ineligibility imposed by the ITF Independent Tribunal is to be reduced to a period of ineligibility of nine 9) months starting on 7 October 2022, which period expired on 6 July 2023,” the CAS announced in its official statement.

It was on 7 October 2022 that Halep was initially given a provisional suspension after having tested positive for the banned substance roxadustat following her 2022 US Open defeat to Daria Snigur. Halep was later charged with an additional anti-doping rule violation (ADRV), when her Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) was found to have “established use of a prohibited substance and/or prohibited method” over an extended period of time.

Halep was subsequently handed a four-year ban dating back to October 2022 on 22 September 2023, having found the former world No. 1 guilty of both charges. A two-time Grand Slam champion, Halep filed an appeal to the CAS, and participated in a hearing in Lausanne, Swizterland in February.

On the roxadustat charge, the CAS statement reads: “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 and that 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.”

On the ABP charge, the statement reads: “the CAS Panel was not comfortably satisfied that an anti-doping rule violation under Article 2.2. of the TADP had occurred. It therefore dismissed that charge.”

Halep, who is yet to comment on the result of her appeal, has not announced if or when she plans to continue her playing career, though she has repeatedly stated that a return to tennis is her ultimate goal.

“The nightmare that I have lived for a year and a half is finished,” Halep wrote in a statement following the appeals process in February. “I had the chance to present my defense ... to show that I never did any kind of doping. This is what I have said from the first day I was accused.”