Simona Halep appeals against four-year doping ban

Simona Halep has recently released footage of her returning to the practice court, and now it has been confirmed that the former No.1 has officially appealed her four-year doping ban from The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Halep was provisionally suspended in October of last year, after testing positive for the banned substance roxadustat following her first round defeat at the US Open.

Since then, she has consistently declared her innocence and has denied ‘knowingly’ ingesting the substance that increases the production of red blood cells.

Following a series of delays to the hearing and outcome, of which Halep has expressed her frustration at over the past year, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) revealed back in September that the 32-year-old would be banned until 7th October 2026.

My fight continues. pic.twitter.com/kx5uzrLWCz

— Simona Halep (@Simona_Halep) September 12, 2023

Halep has been suspended for two breaches, labelled ‘the presence and use of roxadustat as evidenced in Halep’s urine sample collected on 29 August 2022 at the US Open’ and ‘use of a prohibited substance or method during 2022, based on collection and analysis of 51 blood samples provided by the player as part of the ABP (Athlete Biological Passport) programme’.

The two-time major winner had revealed that they had found evidence that her sample was contaminated, and while the ITIA accept this claim, they suggested that there was too much for it to just be a contamination.

However, a new statement from the CAS revealed that Halep has appealed for her suspension to be reduced, “The Court of Arbitration for Sport has registered the appeal filed by the Romanian tennis player, Ms Simona Halep, against the decision rendered by the International Tennis Integrity Agency Tribunal dated 22 September 2023 (the Challenged Decision), in which she was found to have committed Anti-Doping Rule Violations and sanctioned with a four-year period of ineligibility commencing on 7 October 2022, and the disqualification of all results obtained in competitions taking place in the period 29 August 2022 to 7 October 2022, including forfeiture of any medals, titles, ranking points and prize money.”

The statement continued, “In her appeal to the CAS, the Athlete requests that the Challenged Decision be set aside and that her sanction be reduced. The CAS arbitration proceedings have commenced. In accordance with the Code of Sports-related Arbitration (the CAS Code), the arbitration rules governing CAS procedures, the parties are exchanging written submissions and the Panel of arbitrators that will decide the matter is being constituted.

“Once constituted, the Panel will issue procedural directions for the next phase of the procedure, including the holding of a hearing. Following the hearing, the Panel will deliberate and issue an Arbitral Award containing its decision and the grounds for it. At this time, it is not possible to indicate a time frame for the issuance of the decision. The CAS Panel’s decision will be final and binding, with the exception of the parties’ right to file an appeal to the Swiss Federal Tribunal within 30 days on limited grounds.”

With the statement declaring that there is not a planned time frame for the outcome of this appeal, Halep will have to continue waiting to see if her suspension is reduced.

It is clear that the 2019 Wimbledon champion is thinking about tennis at the moment, as she has recently shared footage of her practicing on social media.

Meanwhile, Simona Halep keeps practicing hoping for a possible comeback

(🎥 @Simona_Halep) pic.twitter.com/lvRh3zY7OM

— We Are Tennis (@WeAreTennis) October 23, 2023

Inside the baseline…

With Halep’s consistent declaration of her innocence, it is of no surprise that she has elected to appeal her doping suspension. Despite there being no allotted time slot for the outcome of this appeal, Halep will be hoping that she can have a similar result to Maria Sharapova back in 2016, when she had her two-year ban reduced by nine months.

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