- By Jonathan Jurejko
- ` Sport
March 5, 2024, 15:26 GMT
Updated 30 minutes ago
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Simona Halep defeated Serena Williams to win the Wimbledon women's singles in 2019
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has shortened two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep's four-year doping ban to nine months.
The decision means 32-year-old Romanian former world number one Halep can return to tennis as soon as possible.
In response to the verdict, Halep made “scandalous allegations.”
Although her case was partially confirmed, Cas concluded that Halep had not intentionally taken roxadustat “on the balance of probabilities.”
Halep, who won the French Open in 2018 and Wimbledon in 2019, has always maintained her innocence after being accused of two separate doping offences.
Two charges were brought against her: one for a positive roxadustat test and another for irregularities in her biological athlete passport (ABP).
Halep, who was initially banned until October 2026, feared the end of her career if the original decision was upheld.
“My faith in the process has been tested by the scandalous allegations made against me and by the seemingly unlimited resources used against me,” Halep said.
“I can’t wait to get back to the tour.”
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), which is responsible for testing within the sport and launched the investigation, said it “respects” the decision.
What did Cas say?
Halep tested positive for roxadustat – an anemia drug that stimulates the production of red blood cells in the body – at the US Open in August 2022.
An ITIA investigation concluded that the contamination likely came from a collagen supplement called Keto MCT.
In a ruling announced on Tuesday, Cas said: “After careful consideration of all the evidence presented to it, the panel concluded that, on the balance of probabilities, Ms Halep had established that roxadustat entered her body through the consumption of a contaminated dietary supplement.” She had consumed in the days just before August 29, 2022.
“The roxadustat detected in their sample came from this contaminated product.
“As a result, the Cas Panel concluded that Ms. Halep had also established, on the balance of probabilities, that her anti-doping rule violations were not willful.
“Although the Cas Panel found that Ms. Halep bore a degree of fault or negligence in her violations because she did not exercise sufficient care when using the Keto-MCT supplement, it concluded that she did not act substantively fault or negligence.”
Halep was charged with a second separate offense in May 2023 when the ITIA said irregularities had been found in her biological passport as an athlete.
The ABP program collects and compares biological data to detect discrepancies in an athlete's blood over time that indicate possible doping.
Three experts – Dr. Jakob Morkeberg, Dr. Laura Garvican-Lewis and Professor Giuseppe d'Onofrio – assessed 51 valid samples of Halep's blood and each concluded there was “probable doping”.
Halep's defense suspected that the irregularities found were caused by, among other things, blood loss during surgery and periods when she was not exercising.
Cas said it was “not sufficiently convinced” that Halep had committed a crime and the panel “therefore rejected this charge.”
Is Halep's career back on track?
Halep, who has earned £32.2 million in career prize money, can return to the WTA tour after his nine-month ban was backdated.
She was charged with two offenses by the ITIA on October 7, 2022 and has not played since.
The retroactive nine-month ban expired on July 6, 2023.
Halep's results from August 29, 2022 – when she returned a positive sample – through October 7, 2022 remain disqualified, as do her ranking points and prize money earned during that period.
Her only competitive match in those six weeks was a surprise first-round loss to Ukrainian qualifier Daria Snigur at the US Open.
Before the Cas decision was announced on Tuesday, Halep acknowledged that continuing the four-year ban would likely end her career.
But after the three-day appeal hearing in February, Halep said she was confident she could clear her name and return to tennis.
She has been posting videos of on-court training sessions over the past few weeks and now it looks like one of the WTA Tour's biggest names will be competing at the highest level again.
Halep will also receive 20,000 Swiss francs (£17,800) from the ITIA to contribute to her legal fees and other costs in the case.
“A key 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,” said ITIA chief executive Karen Moorhouse.
“We await the fully reasoned decision and will consider it thoroughly in due course.”
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