Simona Halep successfully appeals against her doping suspension, set to return to professional tennis
Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep had her four-year-long doping ban cut to nine months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Tuesday.
Considering that the former World No. 1 has served that period already, she can return to professional tennis with immediate effect.
“The CAS Panel has unanimously determined that the four-year period of ineligibility… 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,” CAS said.
Halep could be handed a wild card entry in the coming French Open or even the Wimbledon this year.
“Throughout this long and difficult process, I have maintained my belief that the truth would eventually come out, and that a just decision would be reached, because I am and always have been a clean athlete. I cannot wait to return to the tour,” Halep said in a statement.
Halep was suspended in October 2022 after testing positive for roxadustat, which is a banned drug stimulating production of red blood cells. This happened during the US Open that year. Last year, another doping offence was levelled against her, which was courtesy of irregularities in her athlete biological passport (ABP), which is a method that has been crafted to asses various blood parameters to prove potential doping.
