Simona Halep receives four-year ban after tribunal findings assert she was "likely doping"

Former world No. 1 Simona Halep vowed to “fight until the end to prove that I never knowingly took any prohibited substance” last October when she was provisionally suspended after testing positive for Roxadustat at the 2022 US Open.

Nearly a year later, the Romanian’s future as a WTA player is in serious doubt after Halep was handed a four-year ban by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) for committing two breaches Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP).

According to the findings released Tuesday, the independent tribunal found that Halep had committed “intentional” violations and that “likely doping” accounted for the irregularities in the 31-year-old’s Athlete Biological Passport (ABP).

Among the details provided by ITIA, it read, “The tribunal accepted Halep’s argument that they had taken a contaminated supplement, but determined the volume the player ingested could not have resulted in the concentration of Roxadustat found in the positive sample.”

A collection of 51 blood samples provided by Halep through the ABP program were analyzed. The two-time major winner responded to the news at length, declaring she was “shocked” and “disappointed” at the outcome and “refused to accept their decision.”

“I have taken 200 blood and urine tests to check for prohibited substances—all of which have been clean, until August 29, 2022. Ahead of the hard-court season in 2022, upon recommendation from my trusted team and physiotherapist, I adjusted my nutritional supplements,” she wrote. “None of the listed ingredients included any prohibited substances however we now know—and the tribunal agreed—one of them was contaminated with Roxadustat. I was tested almost weekly after my initial positive test through early 2023, all of which came back negative.”

Continued Halep, “Despite this evidence, the ITIA brought an ABP charge only after its expert group learned my identity, causing two out of three to suddenly change their opinion in favor of ITIA’s allegations. The ITIA relied solely on the opinions of these experts who looked only at my blood parameters—which I’ve maintained for more than 10 years in the same range. This group ignored the fact no prohibited substance has ever been found in my blood or urine samples with the sole exception of one August 29 positive test for Roxadustat, which was present at an extremely low level and which, when considering my negative test three days prior, could only have been caused by accidental exposure to Roxadustat.”

Halep's suspension runs until October 6, 2026. She intends to appeal the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.