A court decision from the court of arbitration for sport (Cas) has lowered Simona Halep’s original four-year suspension for doping to just nine months. The court found her not guilty of intentionally using banned substances. As a result, she can now restart her professional tennis career.
Halep, a previous top-ranked player and two-time champion in grand slam tournaments, was given a suspension in September for testing positive for roxadustat. This was seen as one of the most notable instances of doping in tennis and the first time that the sport’s anti-doping protocol, the athlete biological passport program, was violated. Had she been banned for four years at the age of 32, it would have likely meant the conclusion of Halep’s career.
Halep received two distinct violations of the anti-doping rules from the independent tribunal. These violations were for testing positive for the blood-boosting substance roxadustat on August 29, 2022 after losing in the first round of the US Open and for discrepancies in her athlete biological passport. In response, Halep promptly appealed the charges to Cas.
On February 7-9 in Lausanne, the Cas panel unanimously decided to shorten Halep’s period of ineligibility to nine months after considering her case. Like in her initial case, Halep claimed that the anti-doping violation was unintentional and that the roxadustat entered her system through a contaminated supplement, Keto MCT.
Although the initial ruling found that the Keto MCT sample did not accurately reflect the level of roxadustat in her bloodstream, the Cas panel determined that while Halep did not take enough caution with the Keto MCT supplement, her anti-doping infractions were not deliberate and she was not significantly at fault or negligent.
“This ordeal has been a testament to resilience,” Halep wrote on Instagram. “The triumph of truth is a bittersweet vindication that, albeit delayed, is immensely gratifying.”
In the proceedings concerning the ABP charge, the Cas panel differed from the previous tribunal in accepting the findings of a blood sample taken from Halep on 9 September 2022 for a separate surgical procedure on that day. The panel also took into consideration Halep’s public statement that she would not be participating in any competitions for the rest of 2022 following the surgery. The Cas panel argued that this declaration affected the credibility of the potential doping scenarios presented by the independent tribunal of the ITF.
The Cas panel found the ABP charge to be invalid, stating that there was not enough evidence to prove a violation of anti-doping rules in regards to the abnormalities in Halep’s blood test results. In response, Halep expressed her relief that the accusations made against her were dismissed, despite feeling challenged by the accusations and the resources used against her. She eagerly anticipates her return to the tour.
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Karen Moorhouse, chief executive officer of the International Tennis Integrity Agency, said: “An essential element of the anti-doping process is a player’s ability to appeal, and the ITIA respects both their right to do so, and the outcome. We await the full reasoned decision and will review it thoroughly in due course.”
