Simona Halep banned 4 years in doping case

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Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep has been suspended from professional tennis for four years for doping violations, the International Tennis Integrity Agency said Tuesday.

The 31-year-old Romanian had been accused of two doping offenses ā€” failing a drug test during the 2022 U.S. Open and for irregularities in her Athlete Biological Passport, the ITIA said.

A panel concluded that Halep ā€œhad committed intentional anti-doping rule violations.ā€

Halep had been provisionally suspended since October 2022. The four-year ban will run to Oct. 6, 2026.

Halep reached No. 1 in the WTA rankings in 2017. She won Wimbledon in 2019, beating 23-time major champion Serena Williams in the final, a year after winning the French Open.

Halep, who had blamed a contaminated supplement, plans to appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

ā€œI am continuing to train and do everything in my power to clear my name of these false allegations and return to the court,ā€ Halep said in a statement.

She said she also will ā€œpursue all legal remedies against the supplement company in question.ā€

The ITIAā€™s tribunal heard from Halep and her expert scientific witnesses but concluded that the player committed both offenses.

ā€œThe tribunal accepted Halepā€™s argument that they had taken a contaminated supplement, but determined the volume the player ingested could not have resulted in the concentration of Roxadustat found in the positive sample,ā€ the ITIA said.

Halepā€™s biological passport profile had been examined by an expert panel. Such passports provide a baseline reading of substances in an athleteā€™s body and are considered a way to help chart doping.

The tribunal reported that ā€œlikely dopingā€ was the explanation for the irregularities in Halepā€™s profile.

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