Simona Halep, former tennis number 1, suspended for four years for doping

Romanian Simona Halep, former world number 1 in tennis and two-time Grand Slam champion, was suspended for four years for two anti-doping rule violations, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced on Tuesday.

Halep, 31, was already provisionally suspended since October 2022. His four-year suspension ends on October 6, 2026, the ITIA states.

The first violation is a positive for Roxadustat during the 2022 US Open. This substance, usually used to fight anemia, stimulates the production of red blood cells and is prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

The second charge is related to irregularities in his biological passport, explained the independent body in charge of combating doping in tennis.

The Romanian player, winner of Roland Garros in 2018 and Wimbledon in 2019, announced shortly after that she will present “an appeal to this decision before the Court of Arbitration for Sport”, based in Lausanne (Switzerland).

“I continue to train and will do everything in my power to clear my name of these false accusations and return to the slopes,” he wrote.

Since the beginning of the case, Halep has insisted that experts have shown that this substance was in her body due to accidental contamination after consuming a food supplement and claims her innocence, demanding to be able to testify and defend herself before anti-doping authorities.

“My fight continues”

“Today (Tuesday), a tennis anti-doping program tribunal announced a provisional decision in my case. “Last year was the hardest match of my life and unfortunately my struggle continues,” Halep insisted in her writing.

“I have dedicated my life to this beautiful game of tennis. I take the rules that govern our sport very seriously and can proudly say that I have never intentionally used any banned substance.. I reject having to accept this four-year sanction. “I will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sports,” he argued.

The ITIA stressed this Tuesday that although the court accepted that Halep could have taken a contaminated supplement, “it was determined that the volume that the player ingested does not correspond to the concentration of Roxadustat found in the positive sample.”

“Complex and rigorous process”

The ITIA chief executive, Karen Moorhouse, was satisfied with the “court's decision” after “a complex and rigorous hearing process” and defended that her organization “has followed the appropriate processes as it would with any other person and in accordance with the world anti-doping code”.

In recent months, Halep was very critical of the different sporting bodies. “They kill not only my reputation, but also my career,” he said in May, adding that he was living “the worst nightmare” and denouncing “harassment” by the ITIA: “They want to prove that I am guilty of anything that I have not done.”

Halep has not played since her first-round exit at the 2022 US Open a year ago.

The Romanian is the first prominent player to be suspended for doping since Maria Sharapova in 2016, when she tested positive for meldonium and was suspended for 15 months.