Former Grand Slam champion Simona Halep's 4-year doping ban reduced to 9 months

By Can Erozden

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Tuesday reduced former Grand Slam women's champion Simona Halep's four-year doping ban to nine months.

"The CAS Panel has unanimously determined that the four-year period of ineligibility imposed (on Halep) by the ITF (International Tennis Federation) 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," according to a statement by the international sports court.

The CAS ruled that Halep, 32, had not intentionally taken Roxadustat -- an anti-anemia medication that stimulates the production of red blood cells, but it was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

The former world No. 1 tested positive for Roxadustat at the 2022 US Open and was provisionally suspended in October 2022.

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) said in September 2023 that she was charged with two separate breaches of anti-doping rules -- one for testing positive for Roxadustat and another for "irregularities in Halep's Athlete Biological Passport (ABP)."

Halep filed an appeal in September and CAS’s ruling Tuesday allows Halep to immediately return to the game.

Halep clinched two Grand Slam singles titles -- the first at the French Open in 2018 and at Wimbledon the following year.