Romania’s Simona Halep, a former world No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam champion, has been banned for four years for two anti-doping rule violations, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced on Tuesday.
Halep (31 years old) has been provisionally suspended since October 2022. Your four-year suspension will therefore run until October 6, 2026, the ITIA specifies. The Romanian player can appeal the decision.
The first violation found by the independent court concerns the presence of roxadustat, a molecule that stimulates the production of red blood cells and classified as EPO in the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) regulations, during an anti-doping test carried out at the US Open 2022; The second aspect relates to irregularities in Halep’s biological passport, explains the independent body responsible for the anti-doping authority in tennis.
“You are destroying not only my reputation, but also my career,” Halep reacted in May, shortly after the ITIA announced the second case against her given the length of the proceedings.
The Roland-Garros 2018 and Wimbledon 2019 winner had declared that she had experienced “the worst nightmare” of her life and denounced a form of “harassment” from the ITIA, which accused her of wanting to “prove that I am guilty.” “. Something I’ve never done.”
Halep has not competed since her first-round exit from the 2022 US Open just over a year ago. She then ended her season in mid-September following nose surgery, specifically due to a respiratory illness, before being temporarily suspended.
Halep is the first leading player to fall into the anti-doping net since Maria Sharapova’s drastic ban in 2016. The Russian star tested positive for meldonium and ended up receiving a fifteen-month ban.
Halep says he will appeal his suspension
Simona Halep announced on social media on Tuesday that she plans to appeal her four-year doping ban to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
“I intend to appeal this decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport,” Halep reacted shortly after his sanction for two anti-doping rule violations was announced by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA).
“I continue to train and do everything in my power to clear my name of these false accusations and return to court,” says the 31-year-old Romanian, who has already been provisionally suspended for almost a year and whose sanction runs until October 2026.
As he has done since the beginning of the affair, Halep continues to protest his innocence. “I have never intentionally taken a banned product,” she repeats. “I refuse to accept the four-year ban,” she insists, “shocked” by the decision and convinced that she has provided “irrefutable proof” of her goodwill.