Former world No 1 Simona Halep has appealed against her four-year doping ban from tennis.
The 32-year-old Romanian star was handed a ban by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) for “intentional” doping offences, but she has now appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), requesting that the challenged decision be set aside and that her sanction be reduced.
Halep tested positive for the banned substance Roxadustat in August 2022 and was subsequently provisionally suspended in October of last year.
The 2019 Wimbledon winner was later charged with irregularities in her Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) and last month, it was announced that Halep had been suspended for four years.
A statement read: “The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has registered the appeal filed by the Romanian tennis player, Ms Simona Halep (the Athlete), against the decision rendered by the International Tennis Integrity Agency Tribunal dated 22 September 2023 (the Challenged Decision), in which she was found to have committed Anti-Doping Rule Violations and sanctioned with a four-year period of ineligibility commencing on 7 October 2022, and the disqualification of all results obtained in competitions taking place in the period 29 August 2022 to 7 October 2022, including forfeiture of any medals, titles, ranking points and prize money.
“In her appeal to the CAS, the Athlete requests that the Challenged Decision be set aside and that her sanction be reduced.
“The CAS arbitration proceedings have commenced. In accordance with the Code of Sports-related Arbitration (the CAS Code), the arbitration rules governing CAS procedures, the parties are exchanging written submissions and the Panel of arbitrators that will decide the matter is being constituted.
“Once constituted, the Panel will issue procedural directions for the next phase of the procedure, including the holding of a hearing.
“Following the hearing, the Panel will deliberate and issue an Arbitral Award containing its decision and the grounds for it.
“At this time, it is not possible to indicate a time frame for the issuance of the decision.
“The CAS Panel’s decision will be final and binding, with the exception of the parties’ right to file an appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal within 30 days on limited grounds.”
If the ban is upheld it means she will not be free to compete again until October 2026, by which time she will be 35.
Halep won her maiden Grand Slam title at the French Open in 2018 before following it up with more major success at Wimbledon the following year.
