Simona Halep, a two-time Grand Slam champion, is challenging her four-year ban from tennis for doping. The ban was imposed by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA).
Simona Halep, a former world No 1 in tennis, has appealed against her four-year ban for doping.
The 32-year-old Romanian tennis player received a ban from the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) for intentional doping. She is now appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to overturn the decision and reduce her punishment.
She tested positive for a banned substance called Roxadustat in August 2022. As a result, she was temporarily suspended in October of the same year.
The winner of the 2019 Wimbledon tournament was later accused of irregularities in her Athlete Biological Passport (ABP). Last month, it was announced that Halep has been banned from competing for four years.
A statement read: “The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has registered the appeal filed by the Romanian tennis player, Ms Simona Halep (the Athlete), against the decision rendered by the International Tennis Integrity Agency Tribunal dated 22 September 2023 (the Challenged Decision), in which she was found to have committed Anti-Doping Rule Violations and sanctioned with a four-year period of ineligibility commencing on 7 October 2022, and the disqualification of all results obtained in competitions taking place in the period 29 August 2022 to 7 October 2022, including forfeiture of any medals, titles, ranking points and prize money.
“In her appeal to the CAS, the Athlete requests that the Challenged Decision be set aside and that her sanction be reduced.
“The CAS arbitration proceedings have commenced. In accordance with the Code of Sports-related Arbitration (the CAS Code), the arbitration rules governing CAS procedures, the parties are exchanging written submissions and the Panel of arbitrators that will decide the matter is being constituted.
“Once constituted, the Panel will issue procedural directions for the next phase of the procedure, including the holding of a hearing.
“Following the hearing, the Panel will deliberate and issue an Arbitral Award containing its decision and the grounds for it.
“At this time, it is not possible to indicate a time frame for the issuance of the decision.
“The CAS Panel’s decision will be final and binding, with the exception of the parties’ right to file an appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal within 30 days on limited grounds.”
If the ban is not overturned, she will have to wait until October 2026 to compete again. By then, she will be 35 years old.
Halep won her first Grand Slam at the French Open in 2018 and then won another major title at Wimbledon the next year.
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