Simona Halep in fight to salvage career and legacy as doping saga rumbles on

Tuesday's announcement from the International Tennis Integrity Agency provided the worst possible outcome for Simona Halep.

Not only did the ITIA find Halep guilty of intentional doping, after the Romanian tested positive for the blood-boosting substance roxadustat at the 2022 US Open, but also on a second anti-doping breach relating to irregularities in her Athlete Biological Passport.

Halep, who has been provisionally suspended since October last year, was handed a four-year ban from tennis – two years for each offence – which means she won't be able to return to the tour until October 2026.

The former world No 1 immediately, and inevitably, announced that she would appeal against the ruling, describing the ordeal as "the hardest match of my life ... unfortunately my fight continues”.

Should the original decision be upheld, Halep, who turns 32 later this month, will not be eligible to play competitive tennis again until just after her 35th birthday.

It's perhaps futile to compare tennis's past high-profile doping cases to Halep's, but the precedents could give an indication of what Halep is dealing with in terms of the appeal process.

Marin Cilic, the 2014 US Open champion, was handed a nine-month ban in 2013 after testing positive for the banned substance nikethamide, his comparatively short suspension was due to the low levels of the substance detected. The Croatian successfully appealed and the ban was reduced to four months.

Russian superstar Maria Sharapova was the subject of arguably the most infamous doping case in tennis history when, in 2016, she announced she tested positive for meldonium – a substance that had recently been added to the banned list. Sharapova appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport