Simona Halep: Two-time grand slam champion cleared for tennis return as four-year doping ban reduced

Former tennis world No. 1 Simona Halep has been cleared to return to the sport after having a backdated four-year ban reduced to nine months, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced Tuesday.

Former tennis world No. 1 Simona Halep has been cleared to return to the sport after having a backdated four-year ban reduced to nine months, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced Tuesday. The two-time grand slam winner was handed the ban in September 2023 after being found guilty of anti-doping rule violations by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Independent Tribunal. “The CAS Panel has unanimously determined that the four-year period of ineligibility imposed by the ITF Independent Tribunal is to be reduced to a period of ineligibility of nine months starting on 7 October 2022, which period expired on 6 July 2023,” CAS said in a media release released Tuesday. In the media release, the CAS Panel stated that Halep’s “anti-doping rule violations were not intentional.” Halep said she cannot wait to return to the tour after the “truth prevailed.” “Throughout this long and difficult process, I have maintained my belief that the truth would eventually come out, and that a just decision would be reached, because I am and always have been a clean athlete,” Halep said in a statement obtained by CNN.