Simona Halep wins tennis doping ban appeal as CAS clears Romanian to continue her career

Two-time Grand Slam champ Simona Halep has been cleared to play tennis again after winning her doping case on appeal.

The sport's highest court of appeal - the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, has slashed her four-year ban to nine months. The three judges decided that she "established, on the balance of probabilities" her positive test for a banned blood-boosting substance "entered her body through the consumption of a contaminated supplement."

Their ruling read: "Having carefully considered all the evidence put before it, the Cas Panel determined that Ms Halep had established, on the balance of probabilities, that the Roxadustat entered her body through the consumption of a contaminated supplement which she had used in the days shortly before 29 August 2022," it said. The Roxadustat, as detected in her sample, came from that contaminated product. As a result, the CAS Panel determined that Ms Halep had also established, on the balance of probabilities, that her anti-doping rule violations were not intentional.

"Although the CAS Panel found that Ms Halep did bear some level of fault or negligence for her violations, as she did not exercise sufficient care when using the Keto MCT supplement, it concluded that she bore no significant fault or negligence."

Halep tested positive at the 2022 US Open. She has not played a match since, However Her nine-month ban was applied retroactively and expired last July, meaning she can resume her career immediately.

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