Simona Halep appealed against the four-year suspension

Romanian tennis champion Simona Halep appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS-CAS) in Lausanne, against her four-year suspension for doping, the Swiss court announced on Tuesday.

“The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS-CAS) registered the appeal filed by the Romanian tennis player Simona Halep against the decision taken by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) court on September 22, in which she was found guilty of violating anti-doping rules and sanctioned with a period of ineligibility of four years, starting from October 7, 2022 and with the disqualification of the results obtained between August 29, 2022 and October 7, 2022, including the withdrawal of any medals, titles, points and cash prizes’‘, the press release states TAS.

According to the Lausanne court, Halep requests that the decision of the ITIA be annulled and her sanction “be reduced”.

“The TAS arbitration proceedings have started. In accordance with the Sports Arbitration Code (TAS-CAS Code), the parties exchange documents submitted in writing, and the panel of arbitrators will decide the constitution of the case. The panel will then issue procedural directions for the next phase of the process, including setting a hearing. After the hearing, the panel will deliberate and issue an arbitration decision that will include its decision in this case and its reasoning. At this moment it is not possible to indicate a period of time for the duration of the process and the issuance of the decision. The decision of the TAS panel will be final and unassailable, with the exception of the right of the parties to appeal to the Swiss Federal Court within 30 days“, said TAS

Simona Halep was suspended for a period of four years for doping, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced on September 12. The ITIA said an independent tribunal suspended the former world leader for two separate violations of the Tennis Anti-Doping Program (TADP).

The first violation of the regulations in the case of Simona Halep (32 years old), double Grand Slam champion (Roland Garros 2018, Wimbledon 2019), is related to the identification of the banned substance roxadustat at the US Open in 2022, following an anti-doping test during the competition, and the second is related to the irregularities in his biological passport (ABP). The independent tribunal, established by Sport Resolutions, met on June 28 and 29 in London and heard scientific experts who testified in favor of the Romanian, who also spoke before the tribunal, according to the ITIA press release.

On September 11, 2023, the court confirmed that it had decided that the player had committed “intentional violations” of the Anti-Doping Regulation according to Article 2 of the TADP: the presence and use of the substance roxadustat in the urine sample collected from Simona Halep on August 29, 2022, at US Open; use of a prohibited substance or method in 2022, based on 51 tests of blood provided by players as part of the ABP program.

The court accepted Simona Halep’s argument that she took contaminated dietary supplements, but determined that the volume ingested by the player could not result in the concentration of roxadustat identified in the positive sample.