Simona Halep, a twice Grand Slam champion, has received a ban until October 2026 due to two separate anti-doping rule violations, as stated by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA).
The 31-year-old former Wimbledon and French Open champion from Romania has been under provisional suspension since October 2022 after testing positive for the banned blood-booster roxadustat at the US Open last year.
“The first [charge] is related to an Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF) for the prohibited substance roxadustat at the US Open in 2022, detected through regular urine testing during competition,” stated the ITIA in a Tuesday statement.
Halep vehemently denies knowingly taking the banned substance and claims to have evidence showing that small amounts of the anaemia drug entered her system from a licensed supplement that was contaminated.
“The tribunal accepted Halep’s argument that they had consumed a contaminated supplement, but concluded that the volume ingested by the player could not have resulted in the concentration of roxadustat found in the positive sample,” the statement added.
“The second charge is related to irregularities in Halep’s Athlete Biological Passport (ABP),” the ITIA further explained.
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