After receiving a four-year doping ban for two separate violations, Simona Halep will try to clear her name and reduce her sanction at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) hearing scheduled for February 2024.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) initially issued a provisional suspension for Halep in October 2022 after detecting the banned substance roxadustat in her body. Subsequently, in May, Halep faced a second anti-doping violation related to “irregularities in her Athlete Biological Passport.”
After a year of agony, Halep’s case was finally resolved, although very negatively for the Romanian — her intake of the prohibited substance was found to be intentional and she received a four-year suspension. Her period of ineligibility commenced on October 7, 2022, so by the time it ends in October 2026, the two-time Grand Slam champion will be 35 years old.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport stands as Halep’s final recourse to potentially overturn her career-altering ban. In October 2023, the former world No.1 officially lodged an appeal with the CAS, and her three-day hearing against the ITIA is set to take place February 7-9, 2024. Halep insists that she has always been against doping, attributing her consumption of the banned substance to contaminated supplements resulting from errors in the manufacturing process.
