Simona Halep, former world number one in tennis and two-time Grand Slam singles champion, has been given a four-year suspension from tennis for two doping offences, announced the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) on Tuesday.
The 31-year-old Romanian athlete has been provisionally suspended since October last year after testing positive for the blood-boosting substance Roxadustat at the 2022 US Open. Roxadustat is a substance that can legitimately be used to treat anemia. However, it is also on the World Anti-Doping Agency banned list as it is considered a blood-doping agent, which increases haemoglobin and the production of red blood cells.
In May, Halep was charged with a second anti-doping breach relating to irregularities in her Athlete Biological Passport (ABP). The ABP is designed for the long-term monitoring of an athlete’s blood indicators with the aim of identifying irregularities that could indicate doping.
Responding to the announcement of her sanction, Halep declared her intention to appeal her four-year doping suspension to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). She accused the ITIA of “harassment.”
Winner of the 2018 French Open and 2019 Wimbledon, Halep has not played since her elimination at the 2022 US Open and ended her season in mid-September due to a nose operation, primarily to address a respiratory issue, before being provisionally suspended.
Halep is the first prominent player to be suspended since Maria Sharapova in 2016, who had tested positive for meldonium and received a 15-month suspension.
AFP
