Former Wimbledon and French Open champion Simona Halep, who has been out of action since testing positive for a banned substance at the end of 2022, won her appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Tuesday, allowing her immediate return to competition.
In a two-page summary of its decision, the CAS panel said Halep's positive test for roxadustat, an anti-anemia drug that increases the production of red blood cells, was likely caused by contaminated supplements she was taking. He said he agreed with the allegations. using.
The decision reduces the original four-year suspension Halep was already serving by the International Tennis Federation to nine months.
Halep has strongly denied accusations that she knowingly took prohibited substances. Other prominent voices in the sport, including her former coach and ESPN commentator Darren Cahill, have also publicly said there is no possibility that Halep was involved in doping.
“Simona's integrity is impeccable,” Cahill wrote in a social media post shortly after the suspension became public.
Halep, who turns 33 later this year, has said multiple times that a four-year ban would effectively end her career.
Last fall, Halep's coach at the time, Patrick Mouratoglou, publicly said that her positive test was caused by a contaminated collagen supplement that her staff recommended Halep take.
“I had no way of knowing that, but I feel responsible for what happened because it was basically my team team that brought this collagen to her,” he said.
Halep's appeal was held in Lausanne, Switzerland, from February 7th to 9th. The committee found that Halep “suffered some degree of negligence or negligence” in her use of the supplement, but it did not rise to the level that would warrant a multi-year ban.
Halep's positive test came after she lost in the first round to qualifier Daria Sniger at the 2022 US Open. Two weeks earlier, Halep won her biggest title of the season at the Canadian Open.
Last December, Halep told media in her native Romania that she was no longer working with Mouratogou and that “trust has broken down a bit.”
Halep has won 24 WTA titles, more than $40 million in prize money, and reached No. 1 in the rankings in 2017 and 2019.
