Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep can return to competitive tennis, sports’ highest court said on Tuesday, acknowledging that she was not entirely at fault for her positive doping test.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport said its judges partially upheld the former no. 1’s appeal and reduced her four-year ban to just nine months. It was applied retroactively and expired in July 2023.
The three judges ruled that Halep „established on the balance of probabilities” her positive test for a banned blood-boosting substance „entered her body through the consumption of a contaminated supplement.”
The judges also awarded Halep 20,000 Swiss francs toward her legal fees from the International Tennis Integrity Agency that prosecuted her and asked CAS for a six-year ban.
„I cannot wait to return to the tour,” the 32-year-old said in a statement released by her lawyer, Howard Jacobs. She has launched a lawsuit against the supplement maker.
She hailed her win against „scandalous accusations” directed at her.
Halep has not played since the 2022 US Open, where she tested positive for the banned blood-booster roxadustat.
Her four-year-ban would have expired in October 2026 when she was 35.
The agency banned Halep last year after an investigation that was prolonged by detecting alleged irregularities in her biological passport, which can reveal abnormal blood values measured over several years.
Halep denied wrongdoing for the positive test and blamed contaminated nutritional supplements. Athletes need to prove the source of contamination to show they were not at fault for doping.
„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,” the court said.
She challenged the ban at CAS and attended a three-day, closed-door hearing in February in Lausanne.
She won Wimbledon in 2019, beating Serena Williams and in the final and also won the 2018 French Open.
Simona Halep reaffirms innocence in emotional message to fans
